Kamal Ghorui
There is a quiet, beautiful rule followed in every Disneyland across the world. No character is allowed to be the first to let go of a child’s hug. It is always the child who decides when to step away.
Because children do not always have the words for what they feel. Sometimes they do not yet understand what is hurting them. Often, they simply do not know if there is a safe space, or a safe person, to turn to.
Maybe this rule should not belong only to Disneyland. Maybe it should guide us, especially in the spaces where children reach out in their most vulnerable moments.
Every time a child calls a helpline, it is their version of a hug.
When a child dials Childline 1098, or reaches out to any protection service, they are not just reporting an incident. They are testing the world. They are asking, often without saying it, “Will you hold on, or will you let go?”
A few years ago, these calls were few and far between, and the response was often uncertain, sometimes even indifferent. We failed many children. We let go of too many hugs.
That is beginning to change.
Today, the child helpline rings constantly. In Delhi alone, it received over 94,000 calls last year. Intervention was required in about 7,500 cases. Yet, what matters just as much is this: nearly a lakh children knew the number, trusted it, and found the courage to dial 1-0-9-8, whether to report, to seek help, or simply to be heard. This is not just a statistic. It is a shift. A sign that the distance between children and the systems meant to protect them is slowly narrowing.
Just last week, an 8-year-old child in Rajasthan’s Bundi made that call. Bundi, where child marriage remains deeply entrenched, sees nearly one in three children affected. The child had learned that his friend, almost his age, was about to be married on Akshaya Tritiya.
He did what he could. He picked up the phone and dialed 1098.
The response was immediate. Officials intervened and stopped not just his friend’s marriage, but also that of a 16-year-old at the same ceremony.
This is what it means to hold on.
When the phone rings now, the response is not just procedural. It is present. Calls are not merely routed or recorded. They are met with urgency. There is less silence, less hesitation, less distance on the other end of the line.
And this is exactly what every child helpline must strive to do. Every call must be held like that hug, with patience, with sensitivity, and with the understanding that the child may take time to speak, to trust, to stay.
This is where agility matters. Not just speed, but responsiveness that adapts to the child, not the system. Listening without interruption. Acting without delay. Following through without fatigue or biases.
Across the country, more and more children are choosing to speak up. They are calling to stop their own forced marriages. They are reporting abuse. Some, like the child in Bundi, are calling to protect others.
This is not a small shift. This is children beginning to trust that someone, somewhere, will not let go first. That trust is fragile and this trust must be held carefully and urgently. Because when a child reaches out, they are not just asking for help. They are asking if the world will stay. This time, we must.
END OF ARTICLE
