Kerala to promote adoption, foster care

Programme for finding alternatives to keeping children in child care homes

The Women and Child Development Department has launched a programme for deinstitutionalisation of children living in child care institutions in the State.

Nearly 20,000 children are living in 817 child care institutions registered under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2015, in the State.

The Act states that a child should be placed in institutional care only as a last resort. The Supreme Court too has directed that State governments should consider deinstitutionalisation as a viable alternative. It calls for options such as adoption and foster care.

However, say officials, the State has a large number of institutions, and institutionalisation of children in need of care is usually the first resort, even by the government machinery.

The institutions, however, lack facilities, and do not follow a child rights-based approach. Many of the resident children have one or both parents.

Four phases

The programme will be implemented in four phases. In the first phase, a meeting of superintendents of these homes will be conducted by district child protection officers (DCPOs).

The number of children in each institution will be calculated.

The district women and child development officers will organise a workshop for DCPOS, social workers and so on to prepare of a social investigation report of the child. The report has to be given to the child welfare committees (CWCs), based on which they will take action.

The government, had in May, issued orders that after examining the report, the CWCs should consider a child for alternatives such as adoption, foster care, or sponsorship.

Awareness

In the third phase, the institution superintendents or allied officials will visit the houses of children living in the child care institutions to create awareness among the parents of deinstitutionalisation.

In the last stage, a follow-up of the project will be taken up with the help of rescue officers of Sarana Balyam project, school counsellors, and so on.

Priority for parents

The government has given administrative sanction for the project in all districts. Officials say priority should be given to placing children with their biological parents. .

Sponsorship programmes such as Vijnjana Deepthi have been devised with the goal of deinstitutionalisation. Under it, children who cannot continue their studies owing to financial difficulties will be given ₹2,000 a month for education.