Pvt orphanages resist bid to bring them under JJA
Childrens hold rally against child crimes. (Photo: DC/File)
Thiruvananthapuram: The state Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has virtually dared the government to take on influential religious bodies by directing that all privately-run orphanages be brought under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. Over 95 per cent of the over 1200 orphanages in the state are run by religious institutions.
These homes, lodging more than 50,000 children below the age of 18, are now governed by the Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision and Control) Act, 1960, that makes them independant of monitoring agencies and imposes virtually no conditions on them.
The legislative committee headed by CPI(M) member, M Prakashan Master, which had gone into the functioning of these orphanages, had claimed in its 2010 report that many of them were run mainly for profit and to further the communal agenda of their managements. It also found a lack of transparency in the way their accounts were maintained.
Noting that parliament had through an amendment in 2006 mandated that all orphanages and children’s home be registered under the JJ Act, advocate J Sandhya, who is a member of the Child Rights Commission, regrets that Kerala is perhaps the only state that has not complied. “ Instead, the state issued an order in 2010 exempting these orphanages from registering under the JJ Act,” she points out.
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his exemption was secured thanks to a confusion on the definition of a ‘child in need of care and protection’. As the JJ Act says a child in need of protection is someone without a home or with abusive parents or guardians, the orphanages had argued that the children under their care did not come under it as they have both homes and parents ready to take care of them once they have completed their education.
But Ms Sandhya argues these are mere claims which will remain uncontested as long as these homes remain outside the ambit of the JJ Act. Many also allege that these homes, hold on to their children to maximise fund flow from charitable individuals, organizations and dubious sources
“Couples are waiting to adopt children. The JJ Act insists that a child in an orphanage should be put in foster homes or given away in adoption as part of the child’s re-integration into the mainstream,” says social worker, Subair.
The Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes Act, 1960, does not have enough checks and balances to ensure that the child is put in the right home, say others. "The 1960 Act is rich in post-Independence idealism but vague on specifics. The JJ Act, which was passed incorporating the progressive ideals enshrined in the Child Rights, is comprehensive and detailed.
For instance, the JJ Act has laid down that each child in a home should be provided a space of 40 sq feet. The Act has also specified that there should be at least one latrine for seven children, and at least one bathroom for ten. Further, homes registered under the 1960 Act cannot be pulled up by monitoring agencies like child welfare committees which have executive powers," they note.
The Prakashan Committee too had listed a series of irregularities found in orphanages. “Some put their inmates through hard labour, some rent out their children to schools to offset poor numbers during inspection, some send their girls for back-breaking domestic work and some keep their inmates forever shut inside the four walls of the homes,” it said, adding that social welfare officers tasked with monitoring these homes were not equipped for the job. “We found that they don’t even have a vehicle to go around, leave around a support staff,” said Prakashan Master.
( Source : dc )
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