CHENNAI: If NGOs are unable to trace the parents of rescued children, they are produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
Members of the CWC and a probationary officer then conduct an enquiry into the background of the child.
A psychologist should be brought into the picture to counsel the child. If he immediately starts revealing details of his family, the CWC contacts its district branch and asks it to locate the parents with the information the child provided. The child is also sent to the local CWC to be reunited with his parents, if the committee succeeds in zeroing in on the family.
However, if the case is complicated — as in when the child can’t reveal any detail of his family — he is then put under the care of a children’s home.
The CWC, with the help of a psychologist, should get in touch with the child again in four months’ time and try to get him to recollect details of his family.
The process of reuniting him with his parents through the local CWC branch is then undertaken.
But, if the committee fails to trace his parents despite the child revealing some details, he remains at the same home. Meanwhile, the CWC continues in its efforts.
Once the committee locates the address of the child’s home, he must be immediately transferred to the CWC of that particular district or State.