THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With escape attempts from government-run children’s homes on the rise, it has been decided to scale up five homes functioning under the Social Justice Department - Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Thalassery – into model children's homes. These model homes will have child-friendly infrastructure, service-minded caretakers with the right qualifications, quality academic and psychological assistance and a scientifically developed standards of care.
The Social Justice Department has already prepared a Standards of Care for Juvenile Justice Institutions and has submitted it to the government for approval. In fact, the recommendation had been made during the UDF tenure. The five model homes will follow the guidelines laid down in the standards of care. “These five homes are right to be scaled up into model homes as they have talented and service-minded employees and mentors,” a top Social Justice official said.
As for the child-friendly facilities in these homes, the Department has sought the services of Indian Institute of Architects, Mumbai. Experts of IIA will visit the five homes and suggest changes to the structure, the official said. The model homes will also offer quality academic coaching for its inmates.
An innovative tuition programme ‘Ushus’, which is reportedly working wonders in Kottayam Children's Home, will be taken as model. Under the programme, the academic standards of each inmate are assessed and a unique teaching module is prepared for each inmate on the basis of this assessment. The objective is to raise the standards of home children to school children coming from normal surroundings. A child’s emotional needs will also be assessed in these homes.
Clinical psychologists will be employed in these homes, for a fee of Rs 500 per sitting with a child, to conduct a psychological assessment of each inmate in all the five homes. Welfare officers in model homes will also prepare an individual child care plan for each inmate, for their rehabilitation from the time of admission till he leaves the home. “The concept of a child care plan has always been part of child welfare discussions but it has never been implemented in the real sense,” the official said.
