Desperate pleas on social media for helping or adopting children who lost their parents to Covid-19 may make them vulnerable to trafficking and abuse, an NGO has said.

The Indian branch of Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation that works for protecting child rights in 18 Indian states, has appealed to people not to share details of such children online and instead contact the helpline number 1098 for protecting them from falling prey to traffickers.

In a release issued on Thursday, Save the Children gave the instance of an online appeal that gave the details of two such children and wanted to know if anyone could adopt them and said that such an action may also encourage illegal adoption.

“Children who lost their caregivers and left to fend for themselves are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,” said Chittapriyo Sadhu, deputy programme director of Save the Children in India.

It is an incredibly confusing and difficult time for such children whose mental health may also be a matter of concern, he added.

“Under the present circumstances, it is better not to post specific details of such children like their names, photos and locations that may increase their vulnerability,” said Mahadev Hansa, Jharkhand state head of Save the Children.

“The Jharkhand government, however, did a praiseworthy job when the chief minister issued helpline numbers and urged people to inform about such Covid orphans for protecting them from being exploited or trafficked,” Hansda further said, referring to the release of helpline numbers by chief minister Hemant Soren on May 13.

“The government would help, besides Covid orphans, even those children whose parents are undergoing treatment at hospitals and have no one to look after them,” Soren had said while releasing the helpline numbers.

Asked about the response they were receiving, Ranchi’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson Roopa Verma said: “We have been receiving a huge number of calls, about a 100 daily, since the chief minister announced the helpline numbers.”

“All those may not be related to Covid-orphaned children alone as many didn’t quite understand the purpose and also called for seeking different kinds of help,” she told The Telegraph.

We are scrutinising those calls and sending teams to the locations for verification, Verma said.

The government would help children who lost their parents to Covid-19 or undergoing treatment at hospitals, besides sponsoring such orphans if any close relative agreed to look after them but the CWC would monitor them, she added.

“The CWC will monitor such cases and step in whenever required,” Verma further said.

We would keep the Covid orphans at a designated place at present and then decide the next course of action like organising their education at residential schools, etc, she added.