Visibility To The Invisibles: Why Rehabilitation Of Street Children Remains Need Of The Hour

Supreme Court in a matter relating to contagion of Covid 19 virus in Children Protection homes issued directions to State Governments/ UTs on 26 October 2021 seeking status reports on the rehabilitation of children in street situations in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure for care and protection of Children in Street Situations within a period of two weeks.

These directions of Supreme Court have put the spotlight on the plight of street children and has put the onus on the Union and State governments to focus on resolving this pertinent issue.

PTI

Situation of street children

All of us, at some point in time, would have noticed children in street situations. However, not many of us think about their origins, their wellbeing, or their livelihood. Children in Street Situations (CiSS) have always been vulnerable, with multiple deprivations around health, education, social security and protection.

Furthermore, the advent of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns has made matters worse for these children. The street children have thus far remained invisible from policymakers¡¯ perspective. Save the Children in its report ¡°Life on the Street¡± found that there were more than 2 million street children in India, with no access to any welfare schemes being run by Central or State Governments.

Save the Children accordingly embarked on a significant journey to bring about a lasting change in the lives of Children in Street Situation (CISS).

AFP

SOP for Care & Protection of Street Children

One of the significant milestones of this journey was the development of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Care and Protection of Children in street situations in collaboration with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in 2017.

The SOP was an endeavor to strengthen Policy around the Care and Protection of Street Children in India. Save the children along with the respective Sate Commissions for Protection of Child Rights ensured the implementation of the SOP in seven States across India.

Armed with the valuable experience gained by implementing the SOP 2017, and in order to ensure effective implementation of child protection interventions in accordance with the SOP, NCPCR along with Save the Children, revisited the 2017 SOP and launched Standard Operating Procedure for Care & Protection of Children in Street Situations 2020 in November 2020.

The revised SOP aims to link children and their families to various government sponsored social schemes for their rehabilitation. The SOP also puts in a single document relevant provisions under various children centric laws such as the JJ Act, POCSO Act, Child Labour Act, etc.

Agency

NCPCR under the able leadership of Shri Priyank Kanoongo has been making sustained efforts for implementation of the SOP by organizing outreach activities in major tourist spots in country for rehabilitation of street children. However, Law and Order and policing, being the State subjects, effective implementation of SOP has been dependent on State governments.

Rehabilitation of Street Children

The cause of street children¡¯s rehabilitation, care and protection has received a major fillip as the Hon¡¯ble Supreme Court of India has taken cognizance of the SOP for CISS. The SOP was referred to by the Amicus Curiae during the court proceedings on 26 October 2021 highlighting the need of rehabilitation of street children. With the Supreme Court directing NCPCR, State Governments/Union Territories and the statutory bodies under the JJ Act to submit status reports regarding the implementation of the SOP within next 15 days.

Agencies

The SOP so developed by NCPCR in association with Save the Children thus will become the de facto document on the basis of which the state governments/UTs are required to act to ensure care and protection of CISS. This is a welcome development for children as a standardized approach by various State Governments and Union Territories will go a long way in rehabilitation of children in street situations since this is a cross cutting issue. Involving diverse stakeholders.

Way forward

unicef

Lack of reliable data has been found to be a major blind spot in addressing the issues of street children. While Save the Children has conducted studies to estimate the number of street children in 2016 and 2019 in select cities, there is no official estimate of approximate number of children living on/of the streets (with or without their families) pan India.

There must be a structured enumeration of street children, including it as part of the national census, or relevant government national sample surveys. We hope that the apex court also takes cognizance of this aspect as well.

The Supreme Court will next hear the matter on 15 November 2021, and though the street children will be unaware of the developments, we are hopeful that their lives will be positively affected by the judgement in the matter.

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