Thursday 16 August 2018

Child welfare

The latest incident of a Deoria shelter home should be a wake up call for anyone caring for child welfare. Children, specially the ones who are handicapped, abused or separated from their families, are a responsibility of the society and the government. When a child is placed in a shelter, it is important that the shelter is carefully monitored to check the instances of abuse and neglect.
It is important that the government takes a number of steps to ensure the child welfare.
(1) An auditing body should be established that regularly monitors and keep records of the shelter homes. Inspectors should go for surprise checks at the shelters to ensure that no abuse is taking place there.
(2) Separate shelters for lost children, physically or mentally handicapped children and young adults should be created. Young women who have eloped from their homes should not be put in these shelters, rather their right of choice should be respected.
(3) A centralised data base of all children put in shelters should be created and be electronically accessible for people to trace the lost children. The data base should carry the child's name, age, photograph, physical description, location and date of being placed in the shelter.
(4) Shelter homes should be given temporary licences based on their performance. The staff of the shelter homes should be recruited by State agencies and be subject to job transfers.
(5) Children at shelter homes should have access to schools and proper health facilities, so that they can mingle with the outside world, reducing the chances of abuse at the shelter home.
(6) Children who reach majority should be trained can some trades so that they can lead their independent lives and not be dependent on the shelter home till they are married off.
Children are the responsibility of the society at large and people use make a conscious effort that they are protected and helped. The shelter homes should be accountable for their actions and carefully monitored to e ensure that instances of abuse are not repeated.

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