Ministry of Women and Child Development recently released a report titled ‘Mapping and Review Exercise of Child Care Institutions’.
What is the report on?
The drawbacks in the management of child care institutions have been analysed by a Central government committee.
The committee studied nearly 9,600 Child Care Institutions and Homes.
These are mostly run by NGOs, and come under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act).
Most of the inmates are orphaned, abandoned, sexually abused, trafficked, victims of disasters and conflict, children in conflict with the law and in need of care and protection.
What are the key findings?
Only 32% of Child Care Institutions or Homes were registered under the JJ Act as of 2016.
An equal number were unregistered, and the rest were either empanelled under other schemes or awaiting registration.
Only around 46% of the total homes had adequate number of caregivers per child.
Also, only around 28% centres were able to tend to inmates showing signs of hunger or illness.
65.9% of homes were able to actively supervise children under trauma.
Child care standards were poor in many institutions, lacking proper bedding, food, and nutrition and sanitation.
Children often have to live in facilities without proper toilets, and secure compounds.
More worse, they do not have the opportunity to vent their grievances as provided for under law.
Some States have too few homes, giving authorities little incentive to take up cases of children in distress.
A few States do not have even one home of every category, such as child care, observation and adoption.
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala together account for 43.5% of all shelters.
The study highlights the disconnect between civil society and the welfare system for children, and the poor engagement of elected representatives.
What should be done?
Emergency measures to address the serious lacunae in these institutions are crucial.
Systematic scrutiny by State governments is essential to bring reforms to the childcare system.
It must be ensured through special inspection officers that all institutions -
register under the JJ Act
account for funds received
enforce mandatory child protection policies during adoption
The priority should be to bring about uniformity of standards and procedures.
Common norms for infrastructure, human resources, financial practices and external audits should be in place.
The findings of the Ministry’s committee should now be turned into a blueprint for action.
Credentialed NGOs should take a greater interest in this effort.
