The State’s efforts to reduce deinstitutionalisation and develop alternative care mechanisms for children are set to get a boost with a five-year strategic plan of the Women and Child Development department.
The State plan, being implemented with technical support of UNICEF, aims at a 50% reduction in the number of children living in child care institutions (CCIs) and a 70% drop in new entries to CCIs by 2029.
The State had formulated a five-year plan for deinstitutionalisation back in 2019, but COVID-19 thwarted it. Following a Supreme Court order to send children in CCIs back home during the pandemic, 4,227 children were sent back home across Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki, and Wayanad districts. During COVID-19, around 13,000 children in CCIs are estimated to be have been sent back to their homes.
The reunifications in light of the COVID-19 impact were hurried, with the families not prepared for the return of the children, both those in need of care and protection and those in conflict with law. Only limited support could be provided to the families, affecting the reintegration of the children, and monitoring services too suffered. Those who remained in CCIs were affected by the containment procedures.
With the aim of restoration of children with their parents or providing them a family atmosphere through alternative care mechanisms such as foster care or adoption, a pilot intervention on deinstitutionalisation and alternative care was implemented in Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, and Ernakulam in 2021. The intervention aimed at preparing families to receive 30 children living in government CCIs in the three districts and identifying 100 children in need of care and protection early and supporting their families so that the children are not sent back to institutional care.
The findings of the pilot such as need for a formal protocol for follow-ups once a child has been deinstitutionalised and better monitoring plans have been incorporated in the revised strategic plan for the 2024-29 period.
Besides the State-level strategic plans, district-level action plans have been formulated, and on its basis annual action plans prepared in all district. For the next year, the target is a 20% reduction in number of children in CCIs.
The plan will lay emphasis on local bodies’ role in identifying vulnerable families and children and providing them support so that the children can remain with the families.
Community-level protection mechanisms such as village-level child protection committees or jagratha samithis in local bodies will visit these families and provide interventions to support them in order to reduce the number of children in need of care and protection.
The plan details the role of various departments and indicators to monitor performance. A review will be undertaken by the Women and Child Development department.
Published - February 11, 2024 08:00 pm IST
