United Nations crc/C/ind/3-4

Table 8.1
Institutional care services

Year	Facilities	Beneficiaries
2007-08	794 homes	46,957 children
2006-07	711 homes	39,962 children
2005-06	675 homes	38,359 children
2004-05	593 homes	40,739 children
2003-04	623 homes	38,749 children
2002-03	625 homes	38,821 children

Source: Schemes being Implemented for Children, Ministry of Women and Child Development, March 2008.

62. 
    The JJ Act, 2000, empowers the State Governments and local authorities to provide various types of services, such as creation of funds for the welfare, rehabilitation and re-socialisation of the juvenile through voluntary donations, and contributions or subscriptions made by an individual or organisation. Such funds are to be administered by the State Advisory Boards.¹ Several States, such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, have set up welfare funds and societies to support education and technical qualification for the rehabilitation of children in institutions, including special homes.² However, there is need to create adequate facilities and involve more human resources for catering to the various needs of children, including counselling, education and vocational training.³ (See Annexure 8B.4.1 for details on State initiative to promote rehabilitation.)
    

8B.4.3.2 Non-Institutional Rehabilitation

63. 
    According to the JJ Act, 2000, the JJB may allow a juvenile to go home after taking into consideration the findings of the social investigation report on the juvenile through a probation officer or a recognised voluntary organisation, and counselling of parent/guardian and the juvenile. Some NGOs conduct family assessment on willingness/suitability but there is a gap in re-integration assistance for survivors. Children are sometimes returned to their families without a comprehensive pre-reunification assessment.
    
64. 
    The JJ Act, 2000, recommends initiation of rehabilitation and social re-integration of children in conflict with law during their stay in special homes through non-institutional alternative care services.⁴ The NCPCR, in its report ‘Key Recommendations and Guidelines for Reform in the Juvenile Justice System’, submitted to the Government in April 2009, has made specific recommendations for remedial measures towards creating child-friendly protective services and promoting non-institutional services on a larger scale so that children can live with families, if required, with sponsorship aid or be referred for adoption or foster care.⁵ To ensure stable and durable placement for children without parental care and appropriate reunification processes of children returning to parental care, it has recommended strengthening of non-institutional and alternate care, and procedural reform in the placement processes.⁶ Following the recommendation of the NCPCR, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) is implementing a Pilot Project on ‘Action Research on Progressive Approaches to Non-Institutional Care’ within the legal framework of the JJ Act, 2000.⁷
    
65. 
    The sponsorships programme under the JJ Act, 2000, has provisions for supplementary support to special homes to meet medical, nutritional, educational and other needs of children for improving their quality of life.⁸ NGOs offer financial and other support services to families in distress to prevent abandonment and institutionalisation of children, and ensure their development in a family environment. However, no data is available on the number of children/juveniles in conflict with law receiving assistance and NGOs providing such assistance.⁹ The recently-launched ICPS will provide systemic support structures to promote adoption, foster care and sponsorship.
    
66. 
    The JJ Act, 2000, has provisions for after-care programmes to assist in successful social re-integration of juveniles leaving special homes, by preparing them to sustain during the transition from institutional to independent life. The guiding principles and the community-based after-care services for achieving this objective however is not laid down in the Act. Therefore the after-care homes often function with an institutional approach.¹⁰ The provision of additional three-year period in after-care needs to be reviewed and alternatives found.
    

8B.4.4 Partnership and Collaboration

67. 
    The JJ (Amendment) Act, 2006, JJ Rules, 2007 and ICPS promote partnership with voluntary organisations in establishment and running of homes/institutions, and protection and development of children. This partnership approach has received encouragement by the Government and has shown considerable success in different parts of the country, especially in Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. It has helped improve the quality and range of services being provided to children in observation homes and special homes.¹¹ In Orissa, out of 15 observation homes, 12 are being run by NGOs and two are being run by the State Government.¹²
    
68. 
    There have been notable initiatives to encourage rehabilitation of children in conflict with law by the State Governments. The Juvenile Justice Forum, established in Karnataka, holds meetings of all relevant agencies, including DWCD, JJBs, CWCs, police and NGOs, to share information, make joint plans and to coordinate local juvenile justice reform initiatives.¹³ In Jharkhand, collaboration between judiciary, executive and local community has helped improve lives of children in special institutions.
    
69. 
    Technical assistance in the implementation of juvenile justice in the country is being provided by UNICEF and UNODC. For instance, in West Bengal, web-enabled missing-children tracking system has been developed with the support of UNICEF. UNODC has provided funds for training of police officers on the JJ Act, 2000 in West Bengal.¹⁴ UNICEF has provided support in capacity-building and training of counsellors placed in institutions in Bihar.¹⁵
    
70. 
    UN agencies were also a part of the process for identifying the inputs required for the formulation of the JJ (Amendment) Act, 2006, JJ Rules, 2007, and in preparation of minimum standards guidelines.
    

8B.5 Challenges

71. 
    The MWCD is committed to its mandate of child protection. It has formulated the JJ (Amendment) Act, 2006, and JJ Rules, 2007, which have provisions to address the above issues and respond to the care, protection and rehabilitation needs of children. States have initiated the process of creating the necessary administrative mechanisms for effective implementation of the JJ (Amendment) Act, 2006. (See Section 8B.1.2 for details.) The ICPS aims to create a safe and secure environment for children in the country, with emphasis on non-institutional family-based care and convergence of services of various sectors.
    
72. 
    Recent Government initiatives have contributed in developing a progressive juvenile justice system. To strengthen the juvenile justice system in the country, the Government will be focusing on the following issues:
    

• 
  Creation of a protective environment to prevent children from getting into various situations of destitution and conflict with law.
  
• 
  Setting up adequate decentralised administrative mechanisms, as mandated under the JJ Act, 2000, supported by strong monitoring and evaluation.
  
• 
  Establishing quality infrastructure and institutional care systems adhering to minimum standards, and supervision and commitment.
  
• 
  Setting up a single window mechanism and method of accreditation for registration of institutions/homes.
  
• 
  Capacity-building of manpower at every level of implementation, including the law-enforcement agencies, such as judiciary, police, and healthcare professionals.
  
• 
  Setting up children’s courts and resources along with access to legal aid to children to deal with long-pending cases.
  
• 
  Expanding the non-custodial rehabilitative care options for de-institutionalisation of children.
  
• 
  Model probationary programme to effectively respond to the increasing number of children in conflict with law.
  
• 
  Effective provision for review and re-consideration of the child’s placement in institutions at regular intervals.
  
• 
  Data collection and information on the number of children in institutions, who could be placed in alternative family care.
  
• 
  Adequate facilities, especially counselling services and vocational skills training to strengthen physical and psychological re-integration.
  
• 
  Creation of new options and strengthening existing initiatives for the rehabilitation of children in institutions.
  

8C. Children in Situations of Exploitation, including Physical and Psychological Recovery and Social Re-integration
Article 39

8C.1 Economic Exploitation, including Child Labour
Article 32

8C.1.1 Status and Trends

73. 
    The Government of India has taken proactive measures to tackle the problem of child labour through strict enforcement of legislative provisions, along with simultaneous rehabilitative measures. More than half of the child labour was distributed in five States of the country. (See Figure 8.2.) These were mostly States with higher levels of poverty and lower levels of literacy, compared to the National average.