Safe Childhood India

During my recent field visit to the Kinship Care and Sponsorship Programme in Govindpuri, New Delhi, I met families whose resilience left a profound impression on me. I visited small, overcrowded homes where widowed mothers were raising two or three children with remarkable courage despite extreme hardship. Their dreams were simple yet powerful—to educate their children, keep them safe, and give them opportunities they themselves never had. The sponsorship support for school fees and tuition is making a real difference, allowing these children to remain in school and offering families hope for a better future.

Yet, beyond this hope lay a reality that was difficult to comprehend. Families lived in cramped settlements with lanes so narrow that two people could barely walk side by side. Open drains flowed beside their homes. Basic sanitation was absent, and the environment posed constant risks to children’s health, safety, and dignity. It was heartbreaking to witness such deprivation in the national capital. I could not help but wonder how children are expected to study, play, and dream when their everyday surroundings expose them to disease, insecurity, and neglect.

These children deserve far more than survival. They deserve clean and safe neighbourhoods, secure housing, proper sanitation, and spaces where they can grow with confidence and dignity. While sponsorship is an invaluable intervention, it cannot by itself overcome the challenges created by unsafe living conditions.

Protecting children requires a holistic approach that combines educational support with decent housing, public health, and social protection. Governments, municipal authorities, civil society organisations, and development partners must work together to upgrade these settlements and, wherever necessary, facilitate the relocation of vulnerable families to safer and more dignified housing.

Every child deserves more than the opportunity to attend school. Every child deserves a safe home, a healthy environment, and the freedom to dream, thrive, and realise their full potential.