NEW DELHI: The government has developed a new standard operating procedure for care and protection of street children to strengthen the processes and interventions so that there should not be any child in a street situation and they should be with their families.
The standard operating procedure has been developed by the apex child rights body, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), in collaboration with child rights NGO Save the Children.
Save the Children mapped about two lakhs children in 10 cities of four states in India, namely, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, whose rights to protection, education, health, water, sanitation, and urban development and welfare were not addressed so far.
The core principle adopted in Standard Operating Procedure for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situations 2 is looking at the child in the context of family since a family is the first resort for a child, the NCPCR said.
Noting that the biggest question was regarding how to link the CiSS to these programmes and schemes run by the government, NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said families of these children should be strengthened through linking them. “This SOP 2.0 comprehensively addresses both – the protection issues of children living on the streets and strengthening of their families,” he said.