The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) on Wednesday said it will be formulating guidelines for children's hostels which are not registered under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The guidelines will cover institutions housing children at the request of parents who are unable to take care of them and their education.

According to the Ministry, the new guidelines will prescribe the minimum standards of care that should be provided to children.

In view of the directions of the apex court, the Ministry is drafting the guidelines which will be applicable to any institution not falling under the categories mentioned in the JJ Act, the Ministry said in a statement.

"Children staying at hostels, including those attached to schools, are as vulnerable as children at any other facility like child-care institutions (CCIs) and day-care centres. Therefore, we decided to formulate a set of guidelines to ensure adequate safety, minimum standard of living conditions and periodic inspections at hostels," said Union WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi.

19 years on, no justice, no compensation: A TN mother's fight for her abducted son

Nagarani is yet to even receive an interim compensation of Rs 1 lakh from the Government's victim compensation scheme.

Anjana Shekar

Tuesday, December 04, 2018 - 13:38

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Investigation: Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen involved in questionable adoptions

Jessica Boehm Arizona Republic

Published 9:12 PM EST Dec 3, 2018

An investigation by Honolulu Civil Beat says Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen is facing national scrutiny for his involvement in questionable adoptions from the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Courtesy photo

BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR: The district collectors on Monday rai ..

Read more at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/66926577.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Shareable link to voice recording: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VOfHwe0Yh6YuUIsER-XYeMjSUGe3FBO2

Opinie René Hoksbergen, oud-hoogleraar adoptie

Opinie René Hoksbergen, oud-hoogleraar adoptie

’Regels deden er niet zo toe bij adoptie kind’

Door PROF. DR. RENÉ HOKSBERGEN EMERITUS HOOGLERAAR ADOPTIE

12 december 2018

(From left) Gayatri Abraham, founder of Padme; counsellor Saras Bhaskar, Chandra Thanikachalam, VP of Indian Council for Child Welfare and paediatrician Sharada Srinivas at a panel discussion ? D SampathkumarBy Vaishali VijaykumarExpress News Service

CHENNAI : On a Saturday afternoon, a motley group — of adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents, psychologists, legal and health professionals — gathered at the Wandering Artist for a panel discussion on different aspects of adoption. The event aimed to spread awareness and mitigate the gaps revolving around this sensitive topic especially post-digitisation through Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). CARA, under the Central Government’s Ministry of Women and Child Development, is the nodal body for adoption of children.

The list of panelists included Saras Bhaskar, a counsellor; Dr Sharada Srinivas, a paediatrician; and Chandra Thanikachalam, vice president of Indian Council for Child Welfare. The session was moderated by Gayatri Abraham, founder of Padme.

Padme, a Bengaluru-based organisation started in August 2017, is a meeting ground and support system for adoptive parents, potential adoptive parents, adoptees and other stakeholders. “Padme is a result of four years of research after digitisation. There have been several developments since the Central Adoption Resource Authority was set up. All all legal adoption agencies were brought under one umbrella.

However, the whole process was taking place through a screen resulting in a loss of sharing of feelings and human interaction. However, many are aware that the system has been centralised. Another crucial part is there are very few adoption-trained counsellors. Our long-term goal is to popularise adoption as an alternate way of starting a family rather than a fallback option,” said Gayatri.

Report meeting Wereldkinderen ..

During the summer I was approached by a Master's student in Educational Sciences at Leiden University. In collaboration with, among others. Wereldkinderen Foundation hoped to learn more about intercountry adoption in the Netherlands. Her aim was, as a neutral third party, to gather information about the context of intercountry adoption in Bangladesh in the 70s and 80s. This student wanted to try to gather a wide range of opinions and stories from different sources.

Through my blogs that I wrote about Bangladesh and adoption, she ended up with me. She told me that she had read my blogs with great pleasure. She wanted to hear my story and ask me questions and if she could use some information from me. Upon hearing that she did this in collaboration with Wereldkinderen, I became a bit skeptical. World children were not so popular with many adoptees and I also had my thing with Wereldkinderen. She asked if I knew more people who wanted to work with this. I would look for her. But not everyone was jumping to give his / her cooperation. She was sorry, but after I explained why, she understood.

The invitation for a meeting follows. I did not know they also gave them a meeting for this. Wereldkinderen wanted to invite all adoptees from Bangladesh to present their findings they had made in recent months. Which findings? And what do they have for something new that we do not yet know? I would go. Later I doubted, also because world children were vague about this meeting. And it was not next door.

After I had spoken to the student last Monday, I decided to go to the meeting on Wednesday 27 November. With the knowledge that nothing will be new. But yes, the miracles are not yet out of the world! After a journey of 2.5 hours I arrive at Wereldkinderen in Den haag. I thought I would see black of the Bengal who had all come to this meeting. But unfortunately, I only saw 7 brown heads, while we really are with the 500 .. the turnout was therefore very special.

Sexually abused and their complaints hushed, 50 girls were kept in a pitiable condition in a missionary home in Tamil Nadu.

Thanks to the efforts of an IAS officer, they have finally been rescued.

KS Kandasamy, the district collector of Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, was informed that the Mercy Adaikalapuram Missionary home in his jurisdiction, was violating government regulations. Soon after, he set off for the home to check its functioning, and what he saw there was nothing less than a shock for him.

Firstly, the infrastructure of the home was in a deplorable condition. Then, he noticed that about 50 girls between the ages of 5 to 22 years lived there and yet, were supervised by a male security guard. When Kandasamy discovered that 65-year-old Luban Kumar, the director of the home, also resided in the same building with his family, he got suspicious and initiated an inquiry.

Speaking to the Times of India, the IAS officer said, “The home lacked basic amenities, the girls had no privacy and were supervised by a male security guard.”

Pune activists demand clarity in new child policy

The policy has a unique feature where it says every employee should sign a declaration that he will respect children, support the right of children,protect them from any kind of harm or abuse and always report any child abuse, exploitation or neglect

PUNE Updated: Dec 29, 2018 14:44 IST

Nozia Sayyed

Hindustan Times, Pune