Govt brings policy for welfare of street kids amid pandemic

New Delhi: The Delhi government has framed a policy for the welfare of street children in view of the pandemic situation which stresses on the role of various stakeholders in promoting Covid-appropriate behaviour and generating awareness about the infection.

Prepared by the Delhi government's Women and Child Development Department (WCD), the policy encourages a direct participation of civil society organisations and highlights their role in identifying hotspot areas and distributing masks among them.

It also suggests that district administration could consider training the children rescued from streets (on attaining the age of 18 years) as Civil Defense Volunteer, since it will provide them respectable employment, and they, owing to their own experience, can also assist many other children who come from a similar background.

The policy also proposes the composition of District Child Protection Convergence Committee (DCPCC) over and above the District Task Force (DTF) for rescuing children.

The DCPCC will have the district magistrate as chairperson alongwith other members, including two from NGOs and the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) representatives.

There is also a need to adopt novel and practical ways of identification and enrolment through the distribution of 'badges' or 'wrist bands' with unique numbers, so that these children can be tracked and monitored for aid distribution and linkage to various services, it says.

Talking about the role of the Health Department, the policy says the department will be required to provide healthcare, education and cover families and children who otherwise lack access to appropriate health information.

The Department has established a model Wellness Centre at Sultanpuri, which is proposed to be further replicated across all districts of Delhi under project Suryodaya, it said.