Child Protection Units soon in all 14 districts of Kerala
The CPUs will create a database of children who needs to be brought under the protection of the state
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state will soon get its first-ever dedicated force for protection of children.
The Social Justice Department will constitute Child Protection Units (CPU) in all the 14 districts. The recruitment process has already begun.
Each unit, which will have eight officers, who will essentially deal with the needs of three types of children: a) those in need of care and protection like orphans, destitute and differently-abled; b) victims of crimes like those subjected to abuse, child labourers and children of convicts;) children in conflict with law like those who have committed crimes like murder or theft.
“Now, the welfare and monitoring of such children are supposedly done by district child protection officers. But the problem is, DCPOs are over-burdened with responsibilities. They have destitute women, the aged and the families of prisoners to take care of and children come low on their priority list,” said Mr V N Jithendran, the social justice director.
“The CPU is exclusively tasked with the welfare of children,” he said.
With the formation of CPUs, all the protections guaranteed in various programmes and projects of the state and Centre will be brought under a single umbrella.
“There are a number of schemes for the welfare of children but they are scattered among various central and state departments,” said senior probation officer K K Subair.
The Labour Department runs scheme for child labourers, it is the Women and Child Department that runs projects for rehabilitation of abuse victims.
And then there are schemes by the state’s Social Justice Department and the Union Human Resource Development ministry.
“Many overlap and none are coordinated. The CPU will attempt to bring them all together,” Jithendran said.
As a first step, the CPUs will create a database of children who needs to be brought under the protection of the state, an exercise not undertaken before.
It is also hoped that with the formation of CPUs follow-ups of children brought under the state’s care will be regularized.