The recent incidents of rampant physical and sexual abuse of minors and women in childcare institutions (CCIs) and shelter homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh reveal how the state as well as the civil society have failed in their role as protectors and watchdogs.

The incidents have happened despite the presence of stringent laws like Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) and protective bodies like National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

The report released by Ministry of Women and Child Development titled ‘Mapping and Review Exercise of Child Care Institutions’ under Jena committee highlights drawbacks in the management of CCIs. Some of its findings are:

• Only 32% of 9,589 CCIs and Homes (mostly run by NGOs) were registered under the JJ Act. About 33% were unregistered, and the rest were either empanelled under other schemes or awaiting registration.
• Child care standards were poor in many institutions, lacking proper bedding, food, and nutrition, lack of proper toilets and sanitation and secure compounds.
• A few States do not have even one home of every category, such as child care, observation and adoption. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala together account for 43.5% of all shelters.
• Lack of Grievance redressal mechanisms, provided under JJ Act, leave the children in despair.

Reasons behind the poor state of affairs in CCIs and Shelter homes:

Overcrowding:

• Most facilities overcrowded showing that the requisite infrastructure is lacking.
• In many facilities, there is no segregation of children brought to shelters for protection
• The construction and running of the homes is under the state list done either by state governments themselves or through NGOs they appoint, though much of the funding comes from the Centre.
• The Centre has monitoring authority over the working of these homes. The implementation has been lacking.

       Administrative Failures:

• Lack of monitoring and absence of inspection committees have led to the current predicament.
• All CCIs are required to be registered under the JJ Act and every district needs to have a child protection officer, a child welfare committee, and a juvenile justice board.
• However, in practice, their functioning has not been effective enough to prevent the widespread misuse of power and money by those running these institutions.
• Home Management Committee: This body has to conduct a meeting every month to ensure that all shelters in the district are being run according to the guidelines of the Juvenile Justice Act. These norms were clearly not followed .
• Although the NCPCR has now been ordered to complete social audits of all CCIs and the state governments have ordered probes, this has come too late for the numerous lives traumatised by their very protectors.

Failures of the Ministry:

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development, which provides funding to CCIs under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, is duty-bound to carry out social audits in order to deter malpractices. However, either these institutions are allowed to function without any routine inspections
• In the case of the Muzaffarpur CCI, inspections by multiple state agencies over the years find nothing amiss despite widespread abuse being present.
• The District Inspection Committee is supposed to conduct a check on the shelters every three months. It is headed by the district magistrate and also has a member of the civil society on its board. Each of these bodies and members failed to detect what was happening at the shelter.

Lack of social audit:

• The protocol for social audits and inspection committees too was developed only after the SC’s 2017 order. Several states are yet to conduct these.

Societal Failures:

• Disconnect between civil society and the welfare system for children, and the poor engagement elected representatives have with such a vital function.
• By giving up their responsibility towards the underprivileged children.
• A patriarchal mindset of the society which leads to not taking such children into confidence while formulating laws and devising mechanisms for their protection

Way Forward:

• Setting up CCIs in states which have none.
• Systematic scrutiny by State governments is essential to bring reforms to the childcare system.
• Accountability and Credibility must be ensured through special inspection officers. All CCIs should be compulsorily registered under the JJ Act, audited for funds received and enforce mandatory child protection policies during adoption.
• Bringing in the uniformity of standards and procedures across CCIs should be a priority. Common norms for infrastructure, human resources, financial practices and external audits should be in place.
• Increased interaction and connect between civil society and the welfare system for children.
• The imperative now is to turn the findings of the Ministry’s committee into a blueprint for action.
• Credentialed NGOs should take a greater interest in this effort, holding the authorities to account.