RECENT statistics reveal a disturbing trend of child suicide attempts in Phoenix, Tongaat and Verulam, with eight children failing in their attempts and six tragically losing their lives.
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RECENT statistics reveal a disturbing trend of child suicide attempts in Phoenix, Tongaat and Verulam, with eight children failing in their attempts and six tragically losing their lives.
This alarming data was released during the recent Teen Suicide Prevention Week, highlighting the urgent need for awareness and intervention
In January, an eight-year-old from Phoenix failed at his second attempt at ending his life.
He had first tried to overdose on his mother’s chronic medication in December, and on January 26, he had attempted hang himself with her sari.
These shocking statistics were released recently by the DSK Group, a non-profit organisation dealing with gender based violence and abuse.
Founder, Daniel Chettiar, said there was an increase of suicide threats and attempted suicides among children and teenagers, particularly in these areas.
He said the main issues which had led to children attempting suicide in the Phoenix, Tongaat and Verulam included the, not coping with gender or sexuality issues and when teenagers found out that they were pregnant.
He said the girls who become pregnant, and boys who were the fathers often attempted suicide because they were afraid of their parents or dealing with the issue.
Chettiar said the increase in children who are struggling with gender issues and are committing or attempting suicide had prompted them to offer free training to social workers and teachers.
“We have dealt with eight children who had failed at suicide attempts, and 11 children who had threatened to end their lives in the past two weeks alone. The youngest case was of an eight-year-old child in Phoenix who said he wanted to end his life because he felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body.
“He had tried to overdose himself on medication in December and on January 26, the boy attempted to hang himself with his mother’s sari. He was rescued by his friends who found him hanged. He was saved but he was injured.
“Six children had committed suicide from the beginning of February. The numbers are shocking. We dealt with the case of a 14-year-old boy attempted to gas himself to death from the exhaust of his parents car.
“Another teenager had taken his mother’s pressure tablets but had survived. A teenager from Verulam had hanged himself with a bedsheet. Suicide attempts where teenagers cut their wrists often leads to them becoming addicted to cutting their wrists,” he added.
Chettiar said they were dealing with 13 cases since November, where teenagers had become addicted to cutting themselves.
“The problem with suicide cases is that parents do not want people to know the reasons why their children had attempted suicide or killed themselves.
“One parent told us that she would rather have her child cutting herself than not having her child around at all. We found that with children struggling with sexuality and gender issues, their parents were not supportive, and some of them were being beaten for showing gay or lesbian tendencies,” he added.
He said by the time the children got to the DSK Group for counselling, they had already tried suicide more than once.
“In some cases when we investigated after a child had committed suicide, we found that the boy child had had feminine tendencies, and he did wrote a letter to say why he committed suicide.
“The parents do not tell us this, and because the child did not leave a letter, many of them hide the reasons why the child felt that they could not live any longer.
“When we speak to neighbours and friends, we find that the child was bullied for being different and that this had resulted in the self-harm. Parents need to be more supportive and not sit and cry when the child is dead.
“When the child is different and is not supported, and the child commits suicide, it is the parent who have failed and not the child. Parents are beating their children up for being different from the norms of society, and the reality is that parents are putting religious beliefs before their children.
“They believe that being gay or lesbian goes against their religion and due to stigma, they force the child to be silent about their feelings. A 15-year-old girl told us that she told her parents that she was lesbian, but they did not understand her. They forced her to wear dresses and punjabis when she was more comfortable with pants. They also force her to wear ponytails and keep her hair long.
“Another child said that her parents thought there was something wrong with her, and they took her to the temple for prayer, thinking she may be possessed.
“Stigma and religious beliefs are major challenges for children in this situation. Parents are not ignorant. If it was the 90s or early 2000s, I could say that they were ignorant. It is 2026 and there is awareness on every platform. There are support groups like us. We will send a counsellor, psychologist, or a parent who has a child in the same situation to speak to the parents and child who are struggling. The problem is that parents are scared that if they ask for help, people would insult their child,” added Chettiar.
He said almost every day they dealt with cases where a child had been assaulted for not following the gender they were born with.
“In the Indian and Black cultures, there is intense pressure when a teenager wants to ‘come out of the closet’. It is sad when the child is badly beaten and we want to open charges, the child threatens to kill him/herself if their parents are arrested,” he added.
“We have to avoid opening charges so that we do not breach the child’s confidence in us. This builds the trust.“Some of the children have told us that they had mentioned their sexuality challenges with their teachers, but were told that they should go home and think about it carefully, and in a few weeks they would be back to normal.
“Another child was told by the teacher that they could not deal with it at school. We are appealing to the Department of Education to enhance the skills of their guidance counsellors at school. It is evident that social workers need training, as they are not equipped to deal with children who identify differently from birth gender.
“We are starting a capacity building training workshop at the Phoenix Child Welfare for social workers in the first week in March due to the influx of these types of cases, and counsellors not knowing how to deal with it. We appeal to those who deal with children to contact us for free training,” he said.