Out of the 93 children identified by the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) who have lost one or both parents to COVID-19 in the district, none had sought rehabilitation so far, according to District Child Protection Officer R. Sundar.
He said on Wednesday that the exercise to identify children who had lost their parents due to COVID-19 is under way in the district and 11 DCPU officials were involved in the process. Out of the 93 children identified so far, two have lost both their parents and the remaining 91 had lost one of their parents to the pandemic.
The two children, who lost both their parents were living with their grandparents and relatives while the remaining were living with their surviving parent, Mr. Sundar said.
Regarding the financial assistance announced by the State and Central governments for children who had lost both parents to COVID-19, the guidelines for the schemes were yet to be communicated, he said.
Those seeking rehabilitation or any other assistance for children in the district who lost their parents to the pandemic shall contact the Childline helpline 1098, according to Mr. Sundar.
In Tiruppur district, the DCPU commenced the exercise to identify the children who had lost their parents to COVID-19 on Wednesday, an official said.
District Collector K. Vijayakarthikeyan chaired a meeting on Tuesday, following which information was gathered from the Health Department and the identification exercise was commenced, according to the official.