THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Henceforth, the state government will take on the role of a parent and chart the future of abandoned or orphaned children lodged in its welfare homes.
Till now, a child was virtually dumped in a welfare home. But from now on, an Individual Child Care Plan (ICCP) will be prepared for each child brought to a welfare home like children’s home, specialised home, place of safety and specialised adoption agencies.
The ICCP will be operational till an inmate successfully integrates with the mainstream society. An Individual Child Care Plan, as a senior Social Justice official put it, is a scientific horoscope of sorts of a child. It will map the future growth of an inmate, the steps a boy or girl should take, on the basis of his/her personal history, and psychological graph.
The Social Justice Department, though considerably late, has now come out with a set of guidelines for the preparation of the Individual Child Care Plan (ICCP).
It was only in 2013, six years after the deadline set by the centre, that the state evolved a Draft Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules. Now, after sitting on the draft for two years, the guidelines have been finally issued.
As a first step, the case history of the child should be meticulously recorded. This will include the child’s personal details, character sketch, family background, health issues, if any, and the social or familial problems the child had to encounter. Simultaneously, the child has to be submitted to a detailed medical checkup within 24 hours of admitting the child to a home.
A certified psychiatrist should also assess the mental condition of the child. These inputs should be incorporated into a mental health care plan.
Then the probation officer should visit the home of the inmate, conduct an investigation of his family and neighbourhood, and prepare a social investigation report.
The ICCP should then be evolved on the basis of the social investigation report and mental health report.
The ICCP will be operational for two more years after the inmate leaves the home. It will be closed only after the former inmate successfully integrates with the society.
