About Government run Childrens Institutions in India

State run institutions are for children from 3-18 years who are in state
custody for various reasons. They are:

- children in conflict with law - accused or committed for crimes.
- children in need of care and protection - which includes abandoned,
orphaned, trafficked minors rescued from red-light area, child laborers
rescued from factories, lost, runaways, special needs children, children of
prisoners and so on

There are three kinds of homes for children:

- Observation Homes, where children accused of crime wait for their cases to
be heard and their fate to be decided.
- Special Homes where juveniles are committed as per the decision of
Juvenile Justice Board.
- and Children's Homes for children with no 'fit' guardians, who require to
be in protective state custody till eighteen years.

There are 12 such juvenile homes in Mumbai/Thane, (3500 children),
245 across Maharashtra (30,000 children)
and about 600 in India.

Children's institutions/ juvenile homes (colloquially called remand homes),
have in the past been associated with mismanagement, neglect and a
prison-like environment, as well as a striking lack of adult guidance or
constructive activity.
With consistent efforts by state authorities along with the voluntary
sector, the focus in recent times is very much on making the homes
rehabilitative and effective.

(taken from http://www.aanganindia.com/)

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All the homes for children in Mumbai are run by government in partnership
with NGOs. While this appears to be a desirable partnership, the reality is
that these state-run children's homes are extremely badly managed.

It would appear that all of these homes are badly managed because:

a) There is strong inteference on the part of Government that is leading to
mis-management
b) The NGOs that have partnered with Government are ill-equipped to
undertake such a role, and have hence been selected due to political or
other influences.

Could someone please clarify?

We would also like to know the following:

- What are the terms and criteria for an NGO to be selected to run a
government children's home in Mumbai?
- What happens on the expiry of the term? What is the procedure for NGOs to
apply for partnership with government?
- What are the checks or vigilance procedures in place for such homes? Who
conducts these checks? What are the results and reports of these checks?

Please send any information on the above to info@...

Thanks,
www.karmayog.org
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