Village units to look for abandoned, orphaned children: WCD ministry

The Women and Child Development Ministry has asked the child welfare committee and children institutes to look for children in villages who are orphaned or are in need of care and protection. The ministry said that they will put forward these children either for adoption, sponsorship or foster care.

WCD officials said that sponsorship facilities will be provided to these children as per recommendation of the CWC after the approval of the Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee (SFCAC). States and UTs will then be asked accordingly to extend sponsorship facilities to the eligible children, the ministry said.

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“Mission Vatsalya envisages a robust ecosystem through the network of state and local governments to ensure the safety and security of children in the country. Under the existing scheme guidelines, the function of child welfare and protection issues will be assigned to the existing committee of the urban local body or Panchayati Raj Institution or Gram Panchayat which deals with issues of social justice and welfare of women and children,” ministry officials said.

The ministry has been pushing for sponsorship of abandoned children, a facility which has been available but languished for years. A senior ministry official said that since 2009-10, 9,750 children had received sponsorship support. “Since we spruced up the scheme under Mission Vatsalya, over 62,675 children have received the support. We also increased the existing support from Rs 2000 to Rs 4000,” the official said.

Sponsorship and foster care are two types of non-institutional care provided by the Centre. In sponsorship, financial support is given to the children who could be living with extended families or biological relatives to support their education, nutrition and health needs by either the government or private donors.

In the case of adoption, Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) facilitate the process by finding families for the children found legally free for adoption. In foster care, the responsibility of the child is undertaken by an unrelated family for care, protection and rehabilitation of the child, who receives financial support for doing so.

Aftercare is also provided to children who have left a Child Care Institution (CCI) when they turn 18 years; financial support is given to the child till the child turns 21 to facilitate the child’s reintegration into the mainstream of society. In some cases, the support can be extended to 23 years to help the child become self-dependent, the ministry said.