PANAJI
Following discussions with child welfare committees, Childline, district child protection units and the police, the Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has come up with a template to assist children in distress on streets including rescuing, restoring and rehabilitating them.
Peter Borges, who heads the child rights commission, said the new template developed by Save the Children India and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights defines children in street situations and outlines the role of stakeholders in rescuing and rehabilitating them.
“Children who have run away from families and live on streets or those whose families have made the streets their homes are considered street children," Borges said, adding that these children are real, human, and have hopes and aspirations just like other kids.
"The path that led them to the streets was not of their choosing. They need to be reached out to,” Borges said.
“As the monitoring body for Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, we request and solicit the active role of the nodal agency, Department of Women and Child Development and all other related departments so we can have a coordinated approach. We are also inviting more civil society participation, apart from NGOs already partnering with us, to address this issue,” Borges said.
Under the template to assist street children in rehabilitating themselves, they will be produced before the child welfare committee after they are initially identified and rescued, mostly by Childline.
The State commission will then play the role of coordinating and assisting the entire process from identification, rescue and rehabilitation.
The Goa Police was represented by over 60 police personnel of various ranks, and Borges exhorted them to put in a sustained and coordinated effort to address the issue of assisting kids in distress on streets.
