Unregistered shelter homes face closure, says Centre

The Women and Child Development Ministry has directed child care institutes (CCIs) and shelter homes across the country to register themselves with the government within two months and get a social audit done, ministry sources said.

“The institutes not registered within two months will be shut down and the girls living there will be shifted to a better and registered centre. The ministry has already started closing unregistered centres,” an official of the Ministry told IANS.

The government move comes in the wake of alleged rape of inmates of a girls’ home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and another in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh.

The Ministy also said it has issued notice for a social audit of over 9,000 CCIs across the country within 60 days. The social audit will be conducted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

“The new pro forma of the audit will have total assessment of the condition in which the children are living. It will not be a mere counting of basic facilities,” the official added.

Last week, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had asked for setting up Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) at the state and district levels for regular monitoring of the Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) and CCIs.

The minister had also said the district magistrates and district collectors should take responsibility of monitoring the adoption programmes which are implemented at the district level. She also directed the officials to streamline the adoption process and ensure its completion within the stipulated time.