You could also contact Ananya, one of hte most wonderful residential schools that I have seen.
www.ananyatrust.blogspot.com

Let me know if this or 1098 does not work out.
There are few other places which we know of.

You have talked about the very topic I want to write about in a long time but never took the time to do it. I have to thank you for making me write what I have in mind.

I think the whole child labor problem is being looked at from the wrong angle. I mean whats wrong in a child earning his lively hood. I would say it is good if a child works for his or his family's well being. It is absolutely wrong to exploit a child in such a situation. The whole child labor activism should be focused on stopping such exploitation and not on stopping the children from earning their living. They are coming to work in most cases simply to fill their stomachs and if possible help their family feed themselves. I completely agree that its wrong in every aspect if the parents exploits the child. We need grassroot level activism to stop exploitation of a child's situation. If you stop the child from earning the money he/she needs to fill her stomach or get some clothing to cover their skin or fulfill some of their fundamental needs, then you are forcing them to do whatever possible to get the money.

We know the fundamental problem is poverty. The child is making efforts to get out of poverty. I would say we should encourage the child in his/her efforts. Thereby we are helping him/her to stand on their own and not get into wrong professions and become a social menace. We should encourage the child to get an education. In our society we dont have the infrastructure to help those kids to get education during their after hours.

Take your case for example. I would say the dhaba owner has actually helped the boy to stay away from harms way (if he has not exploited). He has given the boy a place to stay, food to eat and some money for his services. There are millions of kids like this boy who needs help. Shelters are not the viable option. Stopping them from working is definitely not the viable option. Rather clever economic policies are. Helping the right people (like the dhaba owner) for hiring kids in poverty (like this boy) and helping them get a life. Giving tax incentives for business establishments to recruit kids from impoverished community and providing them with work and education during after hours. Not all business establishments can hire them. For eg fireworks industry or chemical companies are not the best places for a child to work. A nursery, dairy, school, universities, restaurants, book store, grocery store, clothing store, etc are suitable for kids to make money on the side while they get their education during after hours. I mean in the name of child labor prevention act banning the kid to earn his money to fill his stomach until age 15 or 18 is illogical. How is the kid supposed to survive till 15 or 18, if you stop him from earning the money which is their lifeline?

Atleast the kid you are trying to get a shelter is not engaging in unlawful activities to fill his stomach. I think the (Child Labor Prevention) law is wrongly named. It should be named Child Labor Exploitation Prevention Act. Because the current law is not helping the very children it aims to protect.

[Adityakkelekar] However, I strongly disagree with your view that it's OK to allow a child to work if he/she needs to fill his/her stomach simply because it's NOT their age to work.

===> [Anand] Yes it is not their age to work. But how are they supposed to eat and live when they have very little money and in many cases no one to care for them?!?

[Adityakkelekar] Children should play, study, goof around, anything else...that's what has been enshrined in our constitution and in the constitution of nations of so many civilized societies.

===> [Anand] I am not denying that every child should have fun. When getting their next meal is in question how do you expect them to have fun?

[Adityakkelekar] I don't think there will be one reader on this forum who had to go to work when still a kid.

===> [Anand] Reality is quite different from what we wish.

[Adityakkelekar] I shudder to think what it would have been like if I was denied my haasi-majak ka childhood - my biggest treasure. And so, If we have always thought of those playful years as our birthright, what right do we have to say that it's ok if our young friends in the neighbourhood (those toiling at the dhabas) are shortchanged just so that they can go ahead in life?

===> [Anand] Have you heard of child warriors in Africa? Have you heard of suicide bombers? Have you heard of kids dealing drugs? Have you heard of little girls (not even in their teens) being forced in to prostitution or sex work? They did not choose this profession by choice. These are the professions that offered them money to get their next meal or clothing or medical care for their family member or something. Their situation was exploited. This has to stop. I would say its a million times better for a kid to work in a dhaba than to pick up guns, or be forced to prostitution.

[Adityakkelekar] All children should have the means to get ahead in life, but not by forfeiting their childhood. I agree that the fundamental problem is poverty, but we can solve it.

===> [Anand] Why was it not solved then? Why is it a problem for centuries? Mate, where have you been living?

[Adityakkelekar] Why should the creation of shelter homes to house all the kids who are homeless be looked as unviable?

===> [Anand] If it had been viable, every child like the boy you saw in the dhaba would have been in a shelter. Who will pay for the shelter? Who will pay for running the day to day operations of the shelter?

[Adityakkelekar] The government has budgets for such projects; we countrymen can put pressure on the government to see that such projects are executed. And if the government faces genuine shortfalls in terms of budgets and resources to carry out such projects, we can fill in the gaps by volunteering with our skill, time and money. Architects and engineers can design shelter homes, doctors can volunteer time to treah the inmates, those with managerial talents can coordinate and pitch for projects.

===> [Anand] I wish everybody thinks like you. But everybody have their own family and problems to worry about.

[Adityakkelekar] I would rather spend my time laying bricks to construct shelter homes than say that our country is not capable of taking care of its homeless children.

===> [Anand] I sincerely appreciate your willingness to do, but this is so easily said than done. The reality is whether you like it or not, children will try to find work. My take is let that be some safe job than something that is dangerous to them and their lives.

I sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm, but first we need to understand the mechanics (what is the real problem and why it persists) & economics (to learn the real motive power for the problem to persist) behind the problems - like child hood labour, poverty, etc. Without that understanding we will only be fantasizing about the solution and often make half baked policies & solutions.