State sitting on `58 million meant for programs to help abandoned kids

Karnataka has yet to implement Integrated Child Protection System introduced in ’09

Baby Manasvi, who was found abandoned, has now been handed over for foster care.

By Pallavi Ail

BANGALORE (Oct. 4)—Karnataka has received 58.48 million from the central government to arrange for the care and protection of abandoned children for the last two years, but has yet to spend the money.

“At present we have not done anything. We are yet to start,” said Narmada Anand, deputy director of the state Women and Child Development Department.

“Shortly, districts will take up appointment of officers. Once that is done, automatically everything will be ready as the money is there,” she said. “The selection of officials is the only thing that has to be done. This may be completed by October end.”

The central government introduced the Integrated Child Protection System in April 2009. The scheme is meant to nurture orphaned, institutionalised children, and children with migrating or incarcerated parents. They often have mental or physical deficiencies.

The Karnataka government received Rs. 20.31 million during 2009-10 according to the yearly budget published by the central government’s Women & Child Development Ministry. It received another Rs. 38.17 million in 2010-11.

Under the ICPS, state governments were expected to prepare a state plan and create a database to account for details of such children, set up district child protection units and certify potential NGOs to associate with for implementation of the scheme.

Existing programs not fulfilling their purpose

The state government found the existing programs dealing with such children were not fulfilling its purpose.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued a report titled “Review of Operations of Observation and Children’s Homes” in 2008. Karnataka was one of the states whose children’s and observation homes were used as a basis for the evaluation.

The report says children who do not have families or have dysfunctional families are always institutionalised. It observes that these institutions did not prepare them for an independent and fulfilling life.

“Alternate substitute care services like foster family care and group foster care in group foster homes are being increasingly acknowledged by practitioners as more child centric and superior to institutional care,” the report says.

Amount for foster care seen far from sufficient

The central government will allocate only Rs. 750 per child per month to foster parents for caregiving. The central government and state government will share this disbursement in a ratio of 3:1.

Anand herself accepted the amount is too low. But a revision in the amount is not possible until the scheme is in place and the foster parents complain it is insufficient, she said.

The government finds it difficult to monitor the circumstances of children given for foster care, and there have been reports of these children being used as domestic servants.

The Child Welfare Committee, created following the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, takes in approximately 20 to 30 children per month who need protection. The Women and Child Development Department says no NGOs “officially” deal with foster care. They say governmental institutions look after such children.

NGOs: We don’t need government cash

But The SoftCopy contacted Vathsalya, a NGO that spearheads foster care awareness in Karnataka.

Vathsalya pays Rs. 1,500 per child per month as subsidy to foster parents. In addition, it pays the medical, food, transport and travel expenses of the foster child. This sum usually works out at Rs. 6,000 per child per month, said Mary Paul, executive director of Vathsalya.

Paul said the government’s grant of Rs. 750 per child is insufficient as a majority of the families who opt for foster care come from the lower middle class. If they do not receive financial support from the government, it will be difficult to make the scheme a success, she said.

NGOs dealing with foster care do not receive any funds from the government. But rather than funds, they would prefer that the government upgraded its existing facilities for abandoned children, by, for example, by opening more orphanages and training more people to staff them.