[ Karyir Riba ]
ROING, 25 Oct: The Lower Dibang Valley (LDV) District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) organised a stakeholders’ coordination meeting on ‘Children in need of care and protection (CNCP)’ for members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), the Childline (CHL), the Child Care Institution (CCI), the Specialized Adoption Agency (SAA) and the labour & employment department at the Zilla Parishad Hall here on Friday.
The objective of the programme was to discuss various shared responsibilities of the stakeholder departments and units provided under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Mission Vatsalya Guidelines, the Arunachal Pradesh Rescue and Rehabilitation Policy for Children in Street Situation, 2022 (APRRPCIS), and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1988 that are involved in care and protection of the CNCP and reflect on practical difficulties faced by them in effective implementation of such legislations.
DCPU Protection Officer Napi Meto informed that the coordination meeting among stakeholders was aimed to better address CNCP issues in LDV, while Embi Mega from the CHL presented the data on registered cases related to child with CHL and gave an overview of the current scenario. She requested for enhanced coordination with the labour department, specifically in child labour cases, for effective intervention and support.
CCI Superintendent Thongam S Devi highlighted the challenges faced by the CCI due to parents’ and the public’s conceptual misunderstanding leading to overloading of cases that are avoidable. She suggested that “there is a need in improved categorization of children based on specific needs and problems to ensure appropriate care.”
A representative from the district labour office said that “many local business owners fail to apply for required labour licenses, exacerbating child labour issues.”
SAA coordinator Sanu Lama said that, “on several instances, it has been observed that children face reintegration with parents post adoption registration processes due to past histories and behavioural inconsistencies of children.”
“Therefore there is a need for thorough investigation of the child before the child is declared legally free for adoption,” she said.
LPO probation officer Dr Tilu Linggi emphasised on “understanding of existing legislations, rules, and state policy by the stakeholder departments and units, so that respective departments engaged in care and protection of CNCP ensure shared responsibilities and avoid overlapping and overloading of duties on one stakeholder alone.”
He highlighted various shared responsibilities of different departments, and matters requiring convergence or divergence of different departments provided under the JJ Act, the APRRPCIS, 2022, Mission Vatsalya, the Child Labour Act, 1988, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017.
He observed that “there is need for a psychiatrist for the districts in the eastern zone, in the best interest of children, to make expertise opinion.”
