A study on the functioning and structure of Children’s Homes under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, will soon be taken up by the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), University of Mysore.
The study, the first of its kind, will be carried out across 10 States in the country.
The study, which has been funded by the Bureau of Police Research and Development coming under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, comes at a time when the operational framework, efficiency and management of Children’s Homes, run by both Government and NGOs, across the country have drawn flak.
Associate Professor, CSSEIP, D.C. Nanjunda, who is the Director of the project, said the study will critically examine their working style, focussing on the type of institutional services, education, rehabilitation policy they provided and also institutional infrastructure and vocational training provided.
Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, Jain University, Bengaluru, Bhargavi Hemmige, who is a co-investigator of the project, said the study will cover Children’s Homes in different parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkand, Orissa, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Manipur, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
The study is expected to generate geography and culture-specific data to assist the policy makers in identifying how institutional delivery can be mobilised to create an environment where child rights and child development can be ensured under the broader spectrum of “inclusive children”, said Dr. Nanjunda.
Assistant Professor, CSSEIP, P.T. Dinesha, and Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysuru, Shivakumara Swami, are also co-investigators of the project.
Child Rights activist P.P. Baburaj, who is also a former member of the Juvenile Justice Board, said it was a welcome initiative as an elaborate study of the Children’s Homes was the need of the hour, particularly after the enactment of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
