KOZHIKODE: ‘Kaval’, the project of social justice department for the betterment of children in conflict with the law (CCL) has registered significant success. As per the findings of Nimhans, the project had brought down recidivism among children from 15 percent to 3.1 in the three districts where it had been piloted - Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad. Kaval is a joint project of SJ department and Nimhans. Some 382 children under-18 were covered by the project last year, which included girls and transgenders. “Many CCLs return to the same situation which instigates them to recidivism. This triggered the launching of the project,” says Subair K.K., its state nodal officer.
The pilot success had given wings to the project to expand to Kannur, Malappuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Pathana-mthitta and Kottayam districts in 2018. Among the 382 children, 238 children were from BPL families, and 15 percent were repeatedly involved in cases. According to the summary report of Nimhans, it had surveyed before and after the implementation of the project which concluded that recidivism was reduced from 59 children to 12 children.
A community based psychological intervention module was prepared for the project which comprised the individual care plan, family intervention, educational support and vocational and career guidance. As many as 311 parents were oriented on managing children behaviour. “The project is a major game changer. It had almost eradicated recidivism among children in Palakkad and reintegration of children to family and society is a major factor,” says Palakkad district child protection officer, Anandan. K.
