Of the over 3.7 lakh children lodged in homes meant for care of children in vulnerable circumstances across India in 2016-17, over 1.2 lakh were the offspring of single parents. Their number is, in fact, more than double that of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children.
The finding is part of an analysis done by a committee set up by the
ministry of women and child development to study the data collected from
9,589 childcare institutions and homes between January 2016 and March
2017.
"The data shows the number of children of single parents at 1.2 lakh is
more than double that of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children,"
the report said. Of 3.7 lakh children in need of care and protection,
5,900 children in the age group of 0-6 years came in the category of
orphans, abandoned and surrendered. There were 50,267 orphan, abandoned
and surrendered children between 7-18 years.
States with the highest number of children with single parents living in
homes are Tamil Nadu (31,098), Maharashtra (21,260), Andhra Pradesh
(10,113), Karnataka (10,080) and Kerala (10,782).
There are 65,962 boys and 54,096 girls in this category.
There were 60 children in the transgender category. While Andhra
Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu had the highest number of girls, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra had the highest number of boys in this
category staying in homes.
The study busts the notion that children's homes run by the government
and NGOs are spaces for those normally referred to as runaway, missing,
abandoned, trafficked and orphaned. Explaining the presence of children
of single parents in such large numbers, the report said such parents
often send their kids to care homes to ensure safety and well-being of
the child. In such cases, the child remains in touch with the parent and
is eventually reunited based on an assessment of the situation by the
child welfare committee authorised for the purpose under the Juvenile
Justice Act.
"It is seen that more often than not, a non-conducive social
environment or the inability to provide for basic needs forces parents
to take this decision. Children of single parents category come under
Section 2(14) of the JJ Act and qualify to be children in need of care
and protection," the report said.
Former chairperson of a child welfare committee (CWC) in Delhi and
honorary secretary of NGO Shakti Shalini Dr Bharti Sharma said many of
these single parents who come to the CWCs lack social support systems.
It could be a woman caught in commercial sexual exploitation in a red
light area seeking support for her child. The single parent could be a
father who has migrated to the city to work as a labourer and does not
have the support system to take care of his children at that moment.
Sharma recounted the case of a mother of two girls aged 7 and 4. The
woman worked as a domestic help and had nowhere to leave her children
while at work and lacked the means to take care of their needs. She saw
her abusive and alcoholic husband as the biggest threat to her
daughters. She approached Sharma's team to help her place her children
in a home meant for kids in need of care and protection.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said, "Many of these children would not
need to go to an institutional set-up if there were alternatives
available in society. We are studying ways to execute foster care and
sponsorship programmes so that more people come forward to support
children who have a parent but need support."
Source: Times of India
