Illegal orphanages in city continue to thrive

Feb. 8: While the Manipuri kids rescued from an orphanage in Mogappair have gone back home, thousands of children remain trapped in several such orphanages that continue to thrive in the city despite coming under the scanner of the directorate of social welfare (DSW).
A few months ago, DSW received complaints against at least two children’s homes, one at Tirumangalam and another at Ambattur, for ill-treating children. “In the home at Tirumangalam, an eight-year-old boy even died as he was not provided proper treatment for fever recently,” said a former staff of the home.
“We immediately complained about the home to the directorate of social welfare, but no action has been taken so far and 55 children continue to live there.”
In the other case, an American student who had spent a few months as an intern at the orphanage in Kallikuppam, Ambattur, had complained that children went missing ‘mysteriously’ from the home. “But no action has been taken so far,” a city-based child welfare activist said.
Though directorate of social welfare officials inspect and certify homes, only 900 of the thousands of children’s homes are registered under the Orphanages and Children’s Homes Act.
According to them,
the state government was also soft on registering NGOs without proper verification.
“Most of these ‘illegal’ homes do not raise orphaned kids. They bring poor children from the rural districts and take care of them only to draw huge funds from overseas,” they said.
The officials also said even if they raid an orphanage upon receiving a complaint, the orphanages immediately approached the courts and obtained a stay order.
To its credit, directorate of social welfare has raided over 20 homes and sealed 18 of them during the last few months.