Context:
Recently, the central government issued guidelines to states about the Mission Vatsalya child protection scheme
Relevance:
GS II- Welfare schemes
Dimensions of the Article:
- What are the New Guidelines?
- About Mission Vatsalya Scheme:
- Key objectives of Mission Vatsalya
What are the New Guidelines?
- According to the guidelines, states cannot change the original name of the scheme in order to gain access to funding granted by the central government.
- Funds to states will be approved through the Mission Vatsalya Project Approval Board (PAB), which will be chaired by the WCD Secretary, who will scrutinise and approve annual plans and financial proposals received from states and UTs for release of grants.
- It will be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with state governments and UT administrations, with a fund-sharing pattern in a 60:40 ratio.
- However, for the eight states in the Northeast — as well as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the UT of Jammu and Kashmir — the Centre and state/UT’s share will be 90:10
- MVS, in partnership with states and districts, will execute a 24×7 helpline service for children, as defined under Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
- It will support State Adoption Resource Agencies (SARA), which will further support the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) in promoting in-country adoption and regulating inter-country adoption.
- SARA shall coordinate, monitor and develop the work related to non-institutional care, including adoption in the state.
- The Mission plans to establish cradle baby reception centers in at least one specialized adoption agency in each area for receiving abandoned and trafficked children
- Children in need of care, as well as special needs children, will be placed in distinct homes based on gender (including separate homes for transgender children) and age.
- As they are unable to attend school due to physical or mental disabilities, these institutions will provide special educators, therapists, and nurses to impart occupational therapy, speech therapy, verbal therapy, and other remedial classes.
- Further, employees in these specialised divisions must be fluent in sign language, Braille, and other related languages.
- Establishment of open Shelters by the state government will be supported to care for runaway children, missing children, trafficked children, working children, children in street situations, child beggars, child substance abusers etc.
- Financial support has also been prescribed for vulnerable children living with extended families or in foster care, supporting their education, nutrition, and health needs.
About Mission Vatsalya Scheme:
Nodal: Ministry of Women & Child Development
- It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme .
- “Mission Vatsalya” erstwhile Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme, since 2009-10 for the welfare and rehabilitation of children.
- Mission Vatsalya is a roadmap to achieve development and child protection priorities aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- It lays emphasis on child rights, advocacy and awareness along with strengthening of the juvenile justice care and protection system with the motto to ‘leave no child behind’.
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provisions and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 form the basic framework for implementation of the Mission.
Vision and Mission of the Scheme:
Vision:
- To secure a healthy & happy childhood for each and every child in India, ensure opportunities to enable them to discover their full potential and assist them in flourishing in all respects, in a sustained manner.
- Mission Vatsalya promotes family based non-institutional care of children in difficult circumstances based on the principle of institutionalization of children as a measure of last resort.
The Mission aims to:
- Support and sustain Children in difficult circumstances;
- Develop context-based solutions for holistic development of children from varied backgrounds;
- Provide scope for encouraging innovative solutions;
- Cement convergent action.
Key objectives of Mission Vatsalya
- Prioritisation of children in the scheme of Administration keeping Centrality of the Child during all the activities and actions taken under the Mission.
- Best interest of the Child while designing or delivering projects and programmes and to take affirmative action to ensure right to grow in happy family environment with strong social safety net to support families.
- Ensuring Children’s right to Survival, Development, Protection and Participation.
- To establish essential services and strengthen emergency outreach, noninstitutional care within the family and community, and institutional care counselling and support services at the national, regional, state and district levels.
- To ensure appropriate inter-sector response at all levels, coordinate and network with all allied systems to promote convergent efforts for seamless service delivery to children.
- To strengthen child protection at family and community level, equip families and communities to identify risks and vulnerabilities affecting children, create and promote preventive measures to protect children from situations of vulnerability, risk and abuse.
- Encourage private sector partnerships and interventions to support children within the framework of law.
- Raise public awareness, educate public about child rights, vulnerabilities and measures for protection sponsored by government and engage community at all levels as stakeholder in ensuring the best interest of children.
- To build capacities of duty holders & service providers at all levels.
- Monitor progress on objective parameters against well-defined Outputs and Outcomes
- Participation of Panchayats and Municipal Local Bodies at the village level and at the ward and the urban cluster level within the urban municipal ward, for sustained assessment of the issues deserving attention, implementation of appropriate interventions, regular monitoring to develop a robust social safety net for children.
-Source: Indian Express
