Street Child case procedures with CWC

From:  [mail from: rajareddymogili@yahoo.com : ]
Sent Monday, January 11, 2016 11:31 PM
To: helpap@gmail.com

Subject: Street Child case procedures with CWC

Dear Sir,

Please give details about CWC procedurs  of street child.

Thanking you sir,

Raja.

Procedure to be followed when a street child is produced before the Child Welfare Committee:

In addition to the Standard procedures to be followed as laid out in Chapter 3, the following Special Procedures have to be followed whenever a street child is produced before the CWC.

Order a Medical checkup

Keeping in mind that children who have lived on the streets for long, may be sufferingfrom various infections, cuts and bruises, attending to their physical health should be a priority. The CWC must order a medical check-up within 24 Hrs. Street children might have also addicted to substances such as chewing gutka, inhaling whitener, glue as well as, in some cases, to hard core drugs such as brown sugar. An appropriate order to provide treatment has to be given that will help the child recover from such an addiction faster. A close coordination with NGOs and other agencies working on drug rehabilitation program will be useful in such cases. Where required the CWC should order for an age verification.

Initiate family tracing

Family tracing should be initiated at the earliest. Keeping in mind that in a large  number of cases, children leave their homes for very trivial reasons, an early intervention would help the child and his/her family in reunification. The CWC should send the information of the child to the police/ Missing persons Bureau/ Child Line / Home-link to help trace the child’s family.

Ensure the PO develops a plan of action

The CWC must enable the PO to draw an age-appropriate plan for the child while inquiry is pending. An appropriate educational and vocational program should be initiated. Wherever possible, mainstreaming the children into formal schools needs to be initiated. The CWC should ask for reports from the PO whether the child placed in the children Home or Shelter Home are enrolled for such classes and a periodic monitoring is done. NGOs should be invited to develop such programs within Children Home. If the option of repatriation and reintegration of the child with the family is not possible, then the CWC can also explore the possibility of keeping the child/referring the child to a Shelter Home run by an NGO that caters to the special needs of street children. Street children are usually averse to closed institutions and very structured settings. Older street boys could settle well in group homes. The views and opinions of the child need to be taken into consideration before making a final decision. The child should not be forced to go back to

his or her family is s/he does not want to.