NEW DELHI: Raising alarm that unusually high numbers of children are lodged in shelter homes in 8 states, the apex child rights’ body has asked state authorities to repatriate kids to their ‘permanent homes.’
During the first-ever social audit of child care institutions across the country, commissioned by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), it was found that over 70% of about 2.56 lakh children living in shelter homes are concentrated in just 6 states.
These include Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.
Meghalaya and Mizoram are two states where the number of kids in shelter homes is high when seen as a ratio to the overall population.
“This is a very disturbing trend and it suggests that these states are simply not doing enough to either restore children back with their natural homes or find foster or adoptive parents for them,” a senior NCPCR official told this newspaper.
In a letter written to all the district magistrates of 8 states that the maximum number of shelter homes and children in need of care and protection placed in these homes ‘paints an unsettling picture indicating a pitiable condition of children in these CCIs’.
It added that in Maharashtra and two northeastern states, a vast number of children may also have been kept in shelter homes completely ‘unnecessarily’.
The child rights’ body noted that such a vast number of children being deprived of their natural homes and parents is ‘a matter of grave concern’ adding that the district authorities should find homes for such kids, except for those living in observation homes and specialised adoption agencies.
The letter cited order from a recent Supreme Court order which had said that “there is a dire need to understand that institutionalisation of children in need of protection and care is not the only available option and alternative care in terms of foster care, adoption etc. must be explored, keeping in view the best interest of the child.”
The commission has now directed states to get the case analysed by the concerned Child Welfare Committee which is expected to find a suitable home for the kids. In case any child is not repatriated or restored, the Commission has also demanded to know the detailed reasons for the same. It has also asked for the list of those children who could not be repatriated and restored due to ‘prevailing abject poverty in the family’.