Revision as of 18:59, 9 February 2019

Adoption homes

2014-19: 1,265 children die

Ambika Pandit, 1,265 children died in adoption homes in 5 yrs, govt tells House, February 9, 2019: The Times of India

Death of children in adoption agencies from April 2014 to January 2019
From: Ambika Pandit, 1,265 children died in adoption homes in 5 yrs, govt tells House, February 9, 2019: The Times of India

The government informed Parliament that a total number of 1,265 children have been reported to have died in the specialised adoption agencies (SAAs) across states between April 2014 to January 31, 2019. These institutions cater to children in the age group of 0-6 years.

Women and child development minister of state Virendra Kumar in a reply to a written question in Lok Sabha on Friday shared that the highest number of deaths over these five years have been reported from Maharashtra (172), followed by Uttar Pradesh (170) and Bihar (134).

As per the data shared by the government in response to a question from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, there are 484 SAAs across states registered with the government as of now and 26,464 children have been enrolled between April 2014 to January 31, 2019.

While the scope of the Parliament reply does not cover details like age of children, who died, and the reasons for death, sources in the Central Adoption Resource Authority working closely with SAAs said that one of the reasons is the state in which the babies are found abandoned. Babies are left to die and are recovered with severe injures or sickness and this can be a trigger for death, an official said.

However, that is not the only reason, neglect and lack of adequate medical facilities in certain SAAs in some states is also a serious concern that is bothering the CARA top brass, sources said.

For instance, in December, CARA wrote to Karnataka’s women and child development department over high mortality rate and the pitiable state of children in a SAA and a hospital catering to children with infections and illness. CARA’s advisory committee members who visited the home have stated in their report that five children have died in the institution between March to November in 2018. CARA has asked the state to inquire into the matter and take action. Similar concerns have cropped up in the past in Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, sources said.

When contacted, CARA CEO Deepak Kumar told TOI that there were homes that were severely lacking in medical facilities and this needs urgent attention of the states. “The district magistrate along with the Child Welfare Committees and the district child protection units have the biggest role to monitor the functioning of SSAs. Inspections show that monitoring is lacking and SAAs are not putting necessary funds into medical care,” Kumar said.

Shelter homes

2018:  1/3 children left there by single parents

Ambika Pandit, 1 in 3 kids at shelter homes left there by single parents, January 21, 2019: The Times of India

Forced To Live Apart, They Hope To Be Reunited

Of the over 3.7 lakh children lodged in homes meant for care of children in vulnerable circumstances across India in 2016-17, over 1.2 lakh were the offspring of single parents. That’s more than double that of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children.

According to data collected from some 9,600 childcare institutions and homes between January 2016 and March 2017, single parents often send their children to care homes to ensure their safety and well-being. In such cases, the child remains in touch with the parent and may later be reunited.

Of 3.7 lakh children in need of care and protection, 5,900 children in the age group of 0-6 years were orphans, abandoned and surrendered. There were 50,267 orphan, abandoned and surrendered children aged 7-18.

States with the highest number of children with single parents living in homes are Tamil Nadu (31,098), Maharashtra (21,260), Andhra Pradesh (10,113), Karnataka (10,080) and Kerala (10,782). There are 65,962 boys and 54,096 girls in this category.

Shelter homes: AP, Kerala, TN have highest no. of girls

There were 60 children in the transgender category. While Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu had the highest number of girls, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra had the highest number of boys in this category staying in homes. The study busts the notion that children’s homes run by the government and NGOs are spaces for those normally referred to as runaway, missing, abandoned, trafficked and orphaned. Explaining the presence of children of single parents in such large numbers, the report said such parents often send their kids to care homes to ensure safety and wellbeing of the child. In such cases, the child remains in touch with the parent and is eventually reunited based on an assessment of the situation by the child welfare committee authorised for the purpose under the Juvenile Justice Act.

“A non-conducive social environment or the inability to provide for basic needs forces parents to take this decision,” the report said.

Former chairperson of a child welfare committee (CWC) in Delhi and honorary secretary of NGO Shakti Shalini Dr Bharti Sharma said many of these single parents who come to the CWCs lack social support systems. It could be a woman caught in commercial sexual exploitation in a red light area seeking support for her child.

Speaking to TOI, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said, “Many of these children would not need to go to an institutional set-up if there were alternatives available in society. We are studying ways to execute foster care and sponsorship programmes.”

‘1.8L living in childcare institutions as parents unfit to take care

January 22, 2019: The Times of India

An analysis of data from over 9,500 children homes from across India reveals there is a significantly large number of children housed in them whose parents or guardian have been declared ‘unfit or incapacitated to take care’ of the kids by the child welfare committee.

There are 5,291 children in the age group of 0-6 years and 1,78,885 in the age group of 7-18 years in CCIs/Homes who fall in the category where their guardians are unfit to take care of them. The number of boys was 17.2 % more than girls. “Amongst these, the child care institutions in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have maximum number of such children,” the report noted. At the time of the mapping exercise in 2016-17 there were 3.77 lakh children lodged across homes. The analysis steered by a committee set-up by the ministry of women and child development has been put out in the public domain on the WCD ministry’s website.

See also

Children’s issues: India

Single mothers: India