Eleventh Five Year Plan

Towards Women’s Agency and Child Rights 213recognition is underpinned by the fact that every childhas a right to protection, even if he/she is not in difficultcircumstances. Thus the Eleventh Plan interventionfor Child Protection takes both a preventive anda protective approach.THE INTEGRATED CHILD PROTECTION SCHEME6.130 During the Eleventh Plan, the Ministry ofWCD will launch an Integrated Child ProtectionScheme. The existing schemes of: (i) An IntegratedProgramme for Street Children, (ii) A programme forJuvenile Justice, (iii) Shishu Greha scheme, etc. willbe merged with Integrated Child Protection Scheme(ICPS). The proposed scheme is planned to be implementedin the States/UTs. ICPS will be principled onchild protection, which is a shared responsibility ofgovernment, family, community, professionals, andcivil society.6.131 Its several facets will be the following:• Reducing child vulnerability by focusing on systematicpreventive measures to address protectionfailures at various levels. Provisions and services ofvarious sectors will be converged—like health, childday care, education to strengthen families andreduce the likelihood of child neglect, abuse, andvulnerability.• Promoting non-institutional care: Institutionalizationwill be used as a measure of last resort.Constant review of cases to encourage release frominstitutions will be carried out.• Creating a network of services at community level• Establishing standards for care and protection: Allprotection services will have prescribed standards,protocols for key actions, and will be monitoredregularly.• Building capacities: Capacities of all those in contactwith children will be strengthened on a continuingbasis. Thrust will be on strengthening thefamily’s capabilities to care for and protect the childby capacity building, family counselling, and supportservices and linking it to development andcommunity support services.• Providing professional child protection services atall levels: Special services for the many situations ofchild neglect, exploitation, and abuse, includingshelter, care, psychological recovery, social reintegration,legal services, etc. will be provided.• Strengthening crisis management system at alllevels: First response and coordinated intersectoralactions for responding to crisis will be establishedand institutionalized.• Addressing protection of children in urban poverty:Developing a strong social support and servicesystem.• Child impact monitoring and social audit: Programmesand services will be undertaken in orderto promote transparency.• Protecting children in conflict situations: Childrenin conflict-prone areas like Jammu and Kashmir(J&K), NER, and Naxal-affected regions, wherethey are often victims, must be provided care andprotection under the Juvenile Justice Act.Components of ICPS6.132 Towards integrating child protection• 24-hour emergency helpline Childline to be extendedto all districts/cities and setting up of dropinshelters in urban areas.• Steps to streamline adoption process by addressingidentified bottlenecks; reaching out to childrenwhose parents are unable to care for them.• Setting up of Cradle Baby Reception Centres ineach district linked to PHCs, hospitals, Swadharunits, short stay homes, and in the office of DistrictChild Protection Unit (DCPU) to receive abandonedbabies, those in crisis and vulnerable totrafficking.• ICPS will support the creation of new institutionalfacilities and maintenance of existing facilitiesfor children. It will also provide additional componentsto institutions that cater to CWSN. Further itwill support need-based innovative programmesin districts/cities by grant-in-fund to State ChildProtection Units, for example, for children of sexworkers or for post-disaster rescue and relief.• Providing financial and human resource supportto the States/UTs for setting up statutory bodiesunder the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection ofChildren) Amendment Act, 2006, i.e., JuvenileJustice Boards (JJBs), Child Welfare Committees(CWCs), Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs) in