CHILD WELFARE SERVICES

A) Child welfare services and agencies

INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS) Scheme

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is an important program for the welfare of the child which was launched by the Government of India on 2 October 1975. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is found in both tribal and urban areas.

Initially this program was started in some selected areas only. But currently there are more than five thousand functioning centers.

Beneficiaries
Children below 6 years of age,
pregnant woman,
Lactating woman.

Objectives of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

To improve nutritional and health status of 0 to 6 year old child.

To lay the foundation for proper physical, psychological and social development of the child.

For comprehensive growth and development of the child.

To reduce the incidence of morbidity, mortality, malnutrition and school drop out among children.

To provide supplementary nutrition to children, pregnant and lactating women.

To provide regular health checkup, immunization and referral services to the child.

To provide early childhood care and education to children through non-formal preschool activities.

To achieve a policy and coordination between different departments working for the promotion of children.

Improving the health status of the mother and providing her with a nutritious diet.

Measures are taken to improve the overall health of mother and child.

Services

Supplementary Nutrition,
immunization,
health checkup,
Referral Services,
Non Formal Preschool Education,
iron and folic acid supplementation and vitamin A medication,
Supplementary nutrition and health education in the services provided to adolescent girls,
Services provided to the mother include health checkup, treatment of minor illness, immunization and supplementary nutrition.

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Team

Anganwadi Worker,
Anganwadi Helper,
supervisor,
Child Development Project Officer (CDPO),
District Program Officer (DPO),
Auxiliary and Nurse Midwife (ANM),
Accredited Social Health Activities (ASHA).

Population Norms:-

Anganwadi Center (AWC) for Rural/Urban Projects

400-800-1 AWC
800-1600 2 AWC
1600-2400 3 AWC

Then 800 in multiples of 1 AWC

150-400 Mini-AWC for 1 Mini-AWC

300-800-1 AWC for Tribal/River/Desert, Hilly and Other Difficult Areas/ Projects

150-300 Mini-AWC for 1 Mini AWC

All these above types of services and dietary services are provided by Anganwadi workers.

This Anganwadi worker is a population of 1000 mainly handles this program at the village level and all types of dietary services, preventive services, antenatal care and postnatal care, and all care related to immunization are provided.

There is a supervisor for the supervisor of this Anganwadi worker who works as the main sevika. who are provided with some kind of special training who supervises all activities in coordination with the ICDS Project Officer.

Due to this program, the rate of malnutrition decreases and the rate of immunization increases and the rate of morbidity and mortality in the child also decreases.

• Midday meal program (MDMP)

The Mid Day Meal Program is also called “School Lunch Program”. This program was introduced in throwout countries in 1961. The main objective of which is to attract more children to school and reduce school drop out and nutritional support of the child. To improve the status and literacy rate.

Beneficiaries
A schoolgoing child

objective

To enhance child’s admission to school.
To improve child’s attraction towards school.
To enhance child’s attention in school.
To improve child’s literacy.
To improve the nutritional status of the child.
To improve the health status of the child.

Principles of Midday Meal Program

The food provided in the mid-day meal program is a supplement and not a substitute for the home diet.

The diet provided in the mid-day meal program can meet 1/3 of the total energy requirement and half of the protein requirement.

The cost of the meal is reasonably low.

Mill is an easily prepared type that does not involve any complicated cooking process.

Only locally available food is used in it due to which the cost of meal can be reduced.

The menu of diet provided in it is continuously changed due to which monotomy can be avoided.

Aim of Mid Day Meal Programme

1) To make child’s school attention.
2) To reduce school drop outs.
3) To improve the nutritional status and health status of the child.
4) To fulfill 1/3 of the child’s nutritional requirement.
5) To improve the child’s interest towards school.
6) To reduce school drop out of child.
7) To attract more child in school.

Sample menu for mid day meal program

1)Cereals and Millets:= 75 gm/day/child,
2) Pulses:=30 gm/ day/ child,
3)Oil and Fat:=8 gm/day/child,
4) Green leafy vegetables:=30 gm/ day/ child.
5)Nongreen leafy vegetables:=30 gm/ day/ child.

• Balwadi

Balwadi is a word made up of two words.
Baal means child
Wadi means garden.

Kindergarten is an early childhood education and child care program. Kindergarten is a place where pre-primary education is provided to children who are between 2.5 to 5 years of age. Kindergarten teachers are usually local women.

Along with education, other recreational activities are also conducted in kindergartens and monthly parents meetings are also held in which parents are provided education about their child’s care, health status and nutrition.

Health checkup of the child is also done regularly in the kindergarten and its record is also maintained regularly.

Other cultural programs like Independence Day,
Children’s Day, Teacher’s Day and Spot Day are also celebrated every year.

Objective of the Kindergarten
To provide early childhood education,
To provide nutritional support,
To provide adequate health care services to the child.

Special Features of Kindergarten

1) Holistic development
Kindergarten helps the child in overall development like physical, psychological, cognitive, social, emotional, through play based learning activities.

2) Early Literacy
It helps in improving the literacy level of the child by providing stories, games and other types of learning activities to the child in the kindergarten.

3) Nutritional support
In many kindergartens, nutritious food is provided to improve the nutritional status of the child and to improve the growth of the child.

4) Healthcare Services
The health condition of the child is improved by providing immunization, health checkup, and referral services to the child in the kindergarten.

5) Parental involvement
Parents are involved in the education of the child in kindergarten.

Activities done in the kindergarten

Play Based Learning
Play-based learning is done to the child in Kindergarten due to which the child’s interest in learning can be improved.

Recreational Activities

In Kindergarten, the physical and psychological development of the child is improved by involving the child in different types of activities.

Art and Craft
In Kindergarten, children are made to do different types of art and craft activities like drawing, painting, coloring, due to doing all these activities, fine motor skills are improved on the side.

Music and dance
Rhythm, coordination and social skills improve in children due to activities like music and dance in kindergarten.

Nutritional
Adequate nutritious diet is provided to the child to improve the nutritional status of the child in kindergarten.

• Aanganwadi

Anganwadi is a center for the holistic development of women and children. The word “anganwadi” originates from Hindi, where “angan” refers to a courtyard or open space usually found in a kottayada or traditional Indian house, and “wadi” means is “garden” or “small cultivating area”. Together, “Anganwadi” refers to a community center or gathering space.

Anganwadi is a child care center that is present in villages, cities and slum areas.

Anganwadi is a center that provides nutrition, basic health care and preschool non-formal education to children below six years of age, pregnant women and nursing mothers, and adolescent girls. Anganwadi center comes under ICDS scheme.

Anganwadi programme, also known as Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, was started in India in 1975.

Anganwadi covers population based on its location, population density. An Anganwadi covers a population of 1000.

Anganwadi or children’s temple is a system of education for children under five or six years of age. Children under five years of age are admitted to Anganwadi.

Here these children are played games, sung songs and also given nutritious food.

Anganwadis are run among people wherever they live. Children in the age group of three to five years are admitted in it. Children are nurtured through sports, singing, storytelling, creative activities etc. in the environment of their own home, playground or walking area.

Anganwadi teachers, who are mostly sisters, are trained for three to six months. Their training includes dealing with children as well as ways to interact with their mothers.

Thus the Anganwadi teachers become many loving social workers. Anganwadi is a blessing for the children and their mothers from underprivileged sections of urban and rural areas.

Staff of the Anganwadi Centre

1) Anganwadi Worker (AWW),
2) Anganwadi Helper (AWH),
3) Supervisor.

Beneficiaries

1) A child below the age of six years,
2) Women of reproductive age group (15-45 years),
3) Pregnant women,
4) Nursing mother,
5) Adolescence Girls,
6) 3 to 6 year old child,

Services Given in the Anganwadi Centre

Supplementary Nutritional Services,
Regular health checkup,
immunization,
Nonformal Pre School Education,
Maternal and Child Health Services,
Health and Nutrition Education,
Supplementary Services,
Adolescent Girls Services,
Referral Services.

How much benefit?

Packets of food grains are provided to take home for pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls (11 to 18 years) for children between 3 months to 6 years.

100 ml five days a week (Monday to Friday) for a child of 6 months to 3 years and 200 ml flavored pasteurized milk is given to pregnant women and lactating mothers two days a week (Wednesday and Friday) on days other than holidays.

Objectives of Anganwadi Centre

Providing Early Childhood Care and Education,
To improve maternal and child health,
To reduce the condition of malnutrition in children,

To improve the overall condition and nutritional condition of women and adolescent girls,

To improve the nutritional status and health status of 0 to 6 year old child,
For proper physical, psychological and social development of the child.

To reduce the incidence of child mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school drop out.

• Day care center

A day care center is a place where a child whose both parents are working is kept in a day care center during the day for the care of the child and for the proper growth and development of the child. These day care centers are mainly useful for working mothers.

A day care center is a service that provides care to a child during the day while the child’s parents are at work or in business. It generally provides care to children of infant to preschool age.

Services

Supervision and Care of Children.

Age appropriate educational activities and play time are provided.

Meal and snack time.

Time to relax.

Basic health care (some centers may have nurses or medical personnel on staff).

Socialization with another child.

Staff of the day care center

Director/Manager,
Teachers/Caregivers,
Assistant Teachers,
Administrative staff,
cook,
Maintenance and cleaning staff,
Security personnel.

Types of Day Care Centers:

In-Home Day Care:
Run out of someone’s home, usually in-home day care by a caregiver who cares for a small group of children.

Group Day Care:
Larger facilities with multiple caregivers and serving a larger number of children.

Preschool Program:
Often associated with day care centers, these primarily focus on child education activities and preparing children for school.

Benefits:
Allows parents to attend to work or other responsibilities.

Provides socialization and learning opportunities for children.

Provides a structured environment with trained caregivers.

Day care centers have achieved a lot of popularity as they are very necessary for working parents.

For the growth and development of the child of working parents in a safe environment.

In the day care center, proper facilities are provided to the child in which the parents of the child can stay stress free.

activities

Social skills are built up in the child.

A child is also taught how to behave in school.

A child is made to learn through games and fun.

In a day care center, the child is made independent and also self-raised.

Staff to child ratio

Care is provided to four infants in one caregiver and only eight infants are provided in a group in center based care.

Care is provided for up to four toddlers (12 to 24 months) under one caregiver. There should not be more than 12 young toddlers in a group and there should be three caregivers in each group.

Older toddlers (24-36 months) have six children with one caregiver and a maximum of 12 older toddlers and two caregivers per group.

• Pulse Polio Programme

Pulse Polio Program This program was run for polio vaccination. Polio is a viral infection that spreads from person to person, usually through the oral route, causing fever, stiffness in the legs and arms, and paralysis.

Polio vaccine is provided in the Pulse Polio programme.

functioning

The Pulse Polio program was launched in India in 1995.
This program is conducted twice a year.

Also known as National Immunization Day or Immunization Schedule for Pulse Polio.

In this program, children who are 0 to 5 years old are given polio drops every year under the National and Subnational Immunization Program.

Community immunity was maintained and high quality national and subnational rounds were conducted.

After that environmental observation was done and the detection of the transmission of polio virus was done.

The Polio Vaccination Guidelines were released in March 2014.

India converted from trivalent oral polio vaccine (TOPV) to bivalent oral polio vaccine (BOPV) on 25 April 2016.

Under this program to identify the children who are left behind at the time of immunization and provide proper immunization to them.

This also involves monitoring the efficacy of the vaccine.

The vaccine is always kept in a cold area so that the vaccine cannot degrade.

Principles for Polio Elimination

It affects only humans as animals are not its reservoirs.

Polio virus survives in the atmosphere for a short time.

Polio vaccine is safe and inexpensive.

Strategies for Polio Elimination

routine immunization,
Supplementary Immunization Activity,
House to House Activity,

objective

The largest polio program in the world can be started.

The process of early screening and immunization can be kept continuous.

His related NGO can be started.

Quality of services can be improved.

Pulse polio immunization program can be boosted.

• Law pertaining to pediatrics

• The Child Labor Act (1986)

Child Labor Act is a Prohibitory Act. According to this act, children of lower age are prohibited from working in certain types of employment. And it is prohibited for children to work in hazardous employment.

The Act defines certain terms viz

1) A child who is not less than 14 years of age is called a child.

2) Adult means persons whose age is above 14 years but falls under 18 years.

Features of this act.

A child cannot work in the following shops viz
Cement Manufacture,
bead making,
making matches,
carpet weaving,
Building Construction,
cloth printing,
wool cleaning,
Printing etc.

A child can work up to three hours after which they should get an interval of one hour in between and the working hours should not exceed six hours.

Children are not allowed to work from 7 pm (7.00 pm) to 8 am (8.00 am).

If the child is working, the child should get one day holiday in a week from that place.

The owner of the place where the child is working should inform the police within 30 days of the child’s joining.

It is the responsibility of the government to provide a healthy and safe environment where the child works.

If a person does not follow this act the first time, he is punished with a minimum jail term of three months and a fine of ten thousand rupees.

If a person does not follow this rule for the second time, then he has to suffer a jail term of up to 7 months.

• The Child Act (1960)

The Child Act was developed in 1960 for the care, maintenance, welfare, education and rehabilitation of neglected, abused and delinquent children under the age of 14 in India.

The following children are involved in the Child Act

neglected child,
A begging child,
A child whose caregiver is not taking proper care of the child,
A child who does not have a home to live in,
Destitute and orphaned children,
A child whose parents have a chronic illness,
A child whose parents have the condition of leprosy.

Services provided under the Child Act

A shelter is provided to the child who does not have a home to stay.

Education and occupational opportunities are provided to the child as per the need of the child.

Health care facilities are provided as required for physical and mental well-being of the child.

Legal protection is also provided to the child.

Proper rehabilitation services are also provided for neglected and abused children.

Proper counseling and support is also provided to the child and his family members.

If any child needs care, protection and treatment, proper care, protection and treatment is provided.

Benefits of the Child Act

To properly protect the rights of the child.

To prevent child abuse and neglect.

To provide proper rehabilitation and support to the child.

To provide child’s welfare and physical education.

To provide a favorable environment for the proper growth and development of the child.

• Rights of the children

The rights of the child were declared by the United Nations on 20 November 1959.

The rights of the child are as follows.

•> Right to Education,
•> Right to name and nationality,

•>Right to receive special care if the child is handicapped,
•>Right for affection, love, and better understanding,
•> Right to maintain a nutritionally adequate diet,

•>Right to seek first aid or relief in time of any calamity or distress,
•>Right to good medical care,

•> Right to physical play and access to recreational facilities,
•>The right to develop one’s own abilities and become a useful member of the society as a whole,

•>Right to be brought up in a peaceful and brotherly environment,

All the above rights also include the right for every child to enjoy all the rights equally without discrimination of religion, caste, sex, colour, etc.

• Juvenile Justice Act (1986)

The Juvenile Justice Act was enacted in 1986. Then it was replaced in 2000 and called the ‘New Juvenile Justice Act’.

The Juvenile Justice Act involves a child under 18 years of age who has committed a crime and minor children such as,

begging child,
neglected child,
abused child,
A child who is in an orphanage.

Delinquent Juvenile Act

The Delinquent Juvenile Act has been formulated for the rehabilitation and justice of the child who has ever committed any type of crime and criminal activity has been done by the child.

This act creates a uniform framework in the country within which no discrimination is made.The purpose of this act is to prevent delinquent children from going to police jails and to prevent them from going to police lockups.

In the Delinquent Juvenile Act, a norm and standard is set and proper care is provided to the child, and education is provided to the child who is interested in education.

Children who are interested in recreational activities are made to do recreational activities.

Measures are taken to provide rehabilitation to the child who is delinquent so that the child can enter into a normal life.

In this act, care, treatment and rehabilitation should be provided to the child and an environment should be provided in which the child can pass his normal life and pass the life in the society.

objective

To provide proper protection to the child who is a crime victim.

To provide proper treatment and care to the child who has committed crime.

To provide proper rehabilitation and justice to the children who have committed crimes.

To provide a favorable environment for the proper growth and development of the child who is a victim of crime.

Aim of the Juvenile Justice Act

For protection and welfare of delinquent child,
For rehabilitation and reintegration of child,
For Child Friendly Justice System,
To re-introduce the child into the society keeping in mind the rights of the child.

• Rehabilitation of Delinquent Child

Introduction

A child who has committed an offense or crime cannot be arrested by the police, only a child who is between the ages of 16 and 18 years and who has committed a crime as an adult at the time of their arrest can be apprehended. are not treated as such and are not referred to the criminal docket but are referred to the Juvenile Justice Board.

In Juvenile Justice Board one person is Magistrate and two Social Worker members are in this Juvenile Justice Board Social Worker is kept so that he can provide proper care keeping in mind the future of the child.

A child has certain rights, if an offense is committed by a child, they will not be treated inhumanely, they will not be given corporal punishment and they will be kept away from adult criminals, they will be kept in such a way that their behavior can be corrected. A child who has committed a crime will be provided the facility of legal assistance and privacy.

Along with this, they also get other facilities like education, skill development, and involve the child in spot activities to keep them away from crime.

The judgment for the child is in accordance with their age, their liberty will be at least restricted. At the same time, the rights of the child are also kept in mind and the child is made to understand that what he has done is wrong and that he should atone for what he has done.

A child who has committed a crime needs more care so that the child can reintegrate into society.

A child who has committed a crime is rehabilitated keeping in mind the child’s age, his crime and his mental status.

A child care institution and a social welfare organization work with the government to find a solution for the rehabilitation of juveniles. The process for this is created by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Social Workers, Probation, and Officers It ensures that the child who has committed a crime can reintegrate back into the society or not.

Rehabilitation

The primary purpose of any punishment is to make the offender realize that what he has done is wrong and to try to do so.

A person who has committed a crime before is viewed with suspicion in society, so a person who has committed a crime is mentally prepared and developed skills so that he can return to society.

Some types of special programs are run to prevent the person who has committed the crime from substance abuse. His mental health is also treated so that he can continue his education.

Rehabilitation for Juvenile Work

When any law is violated by a juvenile, they are kept in a juvenile home. They are also provided with relevant correctional facilities.
Its primary objective is to rehabilitate the child and re-connect the child with the society.

Psychological assessment is done in the process of rehabilitation. Also it is seen what are the circumstances that lead the juvenile to commit the crime.

In rehabilitation the juvenile is provided with therapy guidance and development of skills. They are involved in yoga. And the child is involved in other mind developing activities.
Social workers and NGOs to treat the child. But also makes an important contribution.

What are the provisions made by the Juvenile Justice Act

The Juvenile Justice Act is a process of rehabilitation in which rehabilitation activities are started as soon as the offender is transferred to a juvenile or correctional facility.

After Care Organizations

This is a transitional home in which the child is placed before fully integrating into society. An after care organization is a special home registered under a government nodal agency whose job is to work for the welfare of the delinquent.

Locational training, therapeutic training, and continuing education are provided to the delinquent in the after care organization. Information is provided for social value. They are also trained to be economically independent on their own. And care is also provided for physical and mental fitness.

Sponsorship

This is a financial help to foster families, individual groups, due to which the child care organization can bear the expenses incurred in the rehabilitation of the child. This sponsorship is provided by the government and NGOs. Also given by

Foster care

This is a non-institutional care that is provided to the juvenile. According to the Juvenile Justice Section 42, the juvenile can be placed in a foster family. This child can be provided with a family environment and proper care as well as education.

Those who are foster families are also paid for this service.
If the parent of the child who is a criminal is in jail, the parents of the child have any chronic illness, the parents of the child do not have enough economic facilities to provide all the facilities to the child, then the child is kept in a foster family.

Adoption

Adoption benefits orphans, homeless children, youngsters who are in abusive relationships, as well as childless parents.

Adoption makes life meaningful for a child who has no parents. Adoption forms a very good relationship between parents and children who are not related to each other.

• Adoption Law and Services

The Adoption Act came in 1956.

What Is Adoption?

When a child is permanently and legally adopted from one person to another person, it is called adoption.

This is a legal process in which the child’s future parents form a relationship with the child.

Adopted child means any infant who is authorized by the court.

adapter

An adopter is a person who can be female or male or a couple who has the authorization to adopt a child.
Thus, the person who adopts the child is called the adopter.

Type of Adoption

There are total 5 types of adoption.

1) Open adoption,
2) Semiopen adoption,
3) Closed adoption,
4) Domestic adoption,
5) International adoption

1) Open adoption,
In open adoption, there is an open relationship between the real mother of the child and the adopter mother. That is, the real mother can form an open relationship with the child. That is, the real mother can meet the child and she can be physically and mentally open with the child.

2) Semiopen adoption,
In semi-open adoption, the real mother of the child cannot meet the child but remains in close contact.

3) Closed adoption,
In a closed adoption, the real mother cannot meet her child.

4) Domestic adoption,
This includes having both serial parents and adopted parents from the same country.

5) International adoption
Thus, a child can be adopted from any country.

Process During Adoption

•> In adoption first registration has to be done.

•> After registration all the documents have to be given.

•> Then counseling of parents is done.

•> Then after counseling the document verification is done.

•> Then a time of three years is given and his name is kept in a waiting list.

•> Then when any child comes for adoption they are informed.

•> Then if there is a favorable condition, the child is adopted by the adopter.

What condition to be fulfilled by adoptive parents

The person who adopts the child should be physically, mentally and emotionally stable.

Adopt parents should be financially stable.

Adopted parents should not be traveling with any life threatening diseases.

Any couple who have more than three children are not eligible for adoption.

A single female can adopt but a single male cannot adopt.

A child can be adopted after two years of marriage and cannot be adopted before that.

• WIFS (Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation Program)

The Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India has launched a program of weekly iron and folic acid supplementation.

This program was implemented to reduce the prevalence and severity of nutritional anemia in the adult population (10-19 years).

A weekly iron and folic acid supplementation program also involves adolescent girls, married adolescent girls with school going children.

This program was started in 2012.

Silent Features of Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation Program

objective
A main objective is to reduce the prevalence and severity of anemia in the adult population through iron and folic acid supplementation.

Target group
In this,
school going girls,
Boys who are in 6th to 12th standard and
Including those who are married adolescent girls.

intervention
Weekly iron folic acid supplementation is given in which 100 mg of iron and 500 mg of folic acid are given on a specific day of the week.

Thus, the target group is school going adolescent girls, boys who are in 6th to 12th standard and married adolescent girls to prevent anemia condition.

If there is a condition of mild anemia then iron folic acid supplement is provided but if there is a condition of moderate and severe anemia then such child is referred to appropriate health facilities.

Under this program, worm infestations like round worms, hook worms are prevented in the child by providing deworming medication twice a year.

Current status

This program is implemented in all the states.
Under this program 11.2 crore beneficiaries are covered out of which 8.4 crore beneficiaries are school going children while 2.8 crore beneficiaries are out of school going beneficiaries.