NEW DELHI: SOS Children’s Villages of India (SOSCVI), the country’s largest child care NGO dedicated to the welfare of the children who have lost or are at the risk of losing parental care, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Meghalaya to design and implement a five-year programme for providing individual foster care to 50 children without parental care.

Individual Foster Care is a form of family-based care wherein children are raised in families other than their biological families. As the implementing agency and technical partner, SOSCVI will assist the Government of Meghalaya in supporting the children and their caregivers in and around Ribhoi and East Khasi Hills districts, the regions identified for this pilot project. The children will be placed in unrelated but suitable families in the community initially for a short period, which could be periodically extended till the child attains 18 years of age.

The MoU was signed by the Secretary General, Sumanta Kar, SOS Children’s Villages of India, and D.D. Shira, M.C.S., Director of Social Welfare, Meghalaya, Shillong.

Commenting about the MoU with the Meghalaya Government, Sumanta Kar, Secretary General, SOSCVI, said, “It is a great honor and privilege to associate with the Government of Meghalaya on this individual foster care project. We have decades of experience in extending care to children lost parental care under the Group Foster Care model in our Children’s Villages, as well as other models of alternative care for every child in need. We already have a strong presence in the state. The SOS Children’s Village Shillong that was established in the year 1999 is sheltering 127 children in 12 family homes. Additionally, over 500 children are under our direct care through the community based Family Strengthening Programme. We are also supporting 22 children through 15 families through the Kinship Care Programme. The knowledge and competency that we acquired over half a century will help us take this project to its fruitful completion. Children require different care solutions based on their need and this project is an attempt towards that.”

He added that SOSCVI will be focusing on empowering the care providers with necessary skills, including parenting, social, emotional, child safeguarding and communication skills, to bring a rights-based approach to their caring practices for ensuring holistic development of the children. Every family/child will have a dedicated mentor/coach within 3 months of enrolment. The technical experts and field workers of the NGO will also train the children and facilitate their holistic development by organizing various activities, besides supporting the children in their career plan and higher education. The NGO will arrange for house visits by its staff every quarter to monitor and record the progress of children and their family. It will assess the overall effectiveness of the programme once every 6 months and make course corrections where needed.

On 12 April, the EU Delegation organised a public online conference to mark the recent adoption of the new EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, map out synergies with the upcoming Council of Europe respective Strategy in this field and grasp the importance of international standards for the protection of the rights of children across Europe.

The conference brought together key speakers from the EU and the Council of Europe, engaged in the definition of strategies, policies and recommendations on the rights of the child: Ms Valeria Setti, European Commission Coordinator for the Rights of the Child and Ms Regina Jensdottir, Head of the Children’s Rights Division and Coordinator for the Rights of the Child at the Council of Europe.

The conference provided a very good opportunity to highlight the coherence and convergence between the EU and the Council of Europe’s respective standards of protection for the rights of the child, as well as the great willingness of both organisations to strengthen their cooperation and synergies in this field. The speakers made clear that the newly adopted EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the upcoming respective Council of Europe Strategy are in very close alignment and will complement each other along the way, building on their respective strengths.

You can find a recording of our conference on the Commission’s streaming platform or on our Facebook channel(link is external)

Two European-level Strategies for the Rights of the Child: What Added Value for us?

Salem Town All-Women police on Tuesday arrested a couple and a businessman in a case of illegal “adoption” of a seven-year old girl.

According to the police, the parents Sumathi and Sathish were launderers and worked out of a corner shop at Annamalai Nagar in Salem. They had two daughters and a son. Worsening financial constraints allegedly forced the couple to illegally give their seven-year-old second daughter in adoption recently to Krishnan, a businessman from the same colony. Ms. Sumathi’s mother Chinnaponnu opposed this and asked her to bring the child back.

However, the couple refused to do so. Based on Ms. Chinnaponnu’s complaint, the police and Childline members rescued the girl from the businessman here, the police said. The police have registered a case under various sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and are investigating.

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The prosecution requested the death penalty for the mother-in-law of Wool, who was arrested for murder and convicted of killing Jeong In after 16 months of age abuse.

The 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court held a trial of resolution on Jang Yang, who was handed over to the trial on charges of murder today (14th).

The prosecution requested the death penalty from Jang, and asked the court to sentence them to a 10-year order to restrict employment in children's institutions, 30 years to attach electronic devices, and five years to order probation.

In addition, Ahn Mo, his adoptive father, who was prosecuted with Jang for violating the Child Welfare Act, was asked for 7 years and 6 months in prison and an order to restrict employment related to children for 10 years.

The prosecution explained the reason for the sentence, saying, "(Mr. Jang) has a responsibility to be responsible as a mother. .

NEW LEGISLATION THAT would allow for the exhumations of bodies at former mother and baby homes must include as many sites as possible, Catherine Corless has said.

Corless is among those attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Children’s Committee today to discuss the legislation.

The Commission of Investigation was set up following claims that up to 800 babies were interred in an unmarked mass grave at a former Bon Secours home in Tuam, Co Galway – following extensive research done by Corless.

Excavations carried out between November 2016 and February 2017 found a significant quantity of human remains, aged from 35 foetal weeks to two to three years, interred in a vault on the site.

The General Scheme of the Certain Institutional Burials Bill was published in December 2019 and new Heads of Bills were approved by the government on 12 January 2021 – the day the Commission’s final report was published.

Trafficking in Human Beings is not a faded, historical memory: it is a

social issue in today’s Albania, and it bears the seeds of a potential

threat to security. RS, a 20-year-old woman from Tirana, gave birth

in prison, following an arrest for theft. RS first reached authorities’

attention as a serial thief at 16. However, her story is not simply one of juvenile

He arrived at the orphanage when he was only one year old, later adopted by a family from Ungheni, and now, after

43 years old, looking for his biological family. It is the story of Larisa Iurii who tries to gather the few pieces of

puzzle he has about his life until adoption to find his mother and siblings. With the hope that

maybe someone will recognize her, the woman asks for people's help, so she can know the one who gave her

life.

12

Apr.

Interview with adoption permit holders

Conversation | Sander Dekker

Please note: this activity has already taken place

Danish children for adoption overtake foreign in number. Most couples stay on the international waiting list.

For the first time in many years, there are more Danish than foreign children for adoption.

Figures from the National Board of Appeal show that 40 children born in Denmark were adopted in 2020.

In comparison, 23 adopted children came here from abroad, which is a record few.

This has led the National Board of Appeal to offer couples and singles who are on a waiting list for a foreign child to move to the list of Danish children.

An adoption from abroad can cost up to 300,000 kroner, while a Danish one is free. At the same time, it goes faster. Nevertheless, so far relatively few want to switch from the international to the Danish waiting list.

For the first time in many years, there are more Danish than foreign children for adoption.

Figures from the National Board of Appeal show that 40 children born in Denmark were adopted in 2020.

In comparison, 23 adopted children came here from abroad, which is a record few.

This has led the National Board of Appeal to offer couples and singles who are on a waiting list for a foreign child to move to the list of Danish children.