The care homes in Andhra violating child rights  Premium

Andhra Pradesh’s childcare institutions, meant to be sanctuaries for vulnerable minors, are grappling with an unsettling reality. Rajulapudi Srinivas finds that recent incidents expose the compromised safety of children post-rescue, underscored by abuse, negligence, and the leaking of sensitive data 

Two years ago, Rani (name changed to protect identity), now 15, lost her mother to an illness. Left in the care of her father, a private company employee, Rani and her younger brother found themselves neglected and unsupported. In September this year, family members sought to marry off the class 9 student. However, timely intervention by an NGO and the police in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh thwarted the child marriage bid. Following the rescue, Rani was shifted to a care home in Vijayawada, through the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in the district. Once again, she finds herself in a distressing situation. “The care home staff collected personal information about me and later leaked it,” she says. This breach of trust ironically came to light on the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11. 

Rani is among the 200-odd minor girls rescued from different parts of the State and produced before the Krishna CWC whose confidential information was allegedly leaked by a counsellor-cum-social worker last month. The profiles of the minor girls were allegedly given to a CWC member who had the information on a pen drive and compiled a 229-page book with photographs, names, ages, nativity, phone numbers, family details, case history on how they were rescued and sent to the shelter home, as well as their follow-up history. The same CWC member also has a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by a colleague.

Typically, data of children referred to Child Care Institutions (CCIs) should be stored either with the CWC or the CCI in the form of physical files and in the official computer database. Under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, disclosure of names and details of “Children in Need of Care and Protection” is prohibited. No criminal case has been registered so far. 

“Profiles of the rescued minor boys and girls in thousands of cases are missing from CWCs across the State. There is no proper documentation system or custodian to protect the data of the minors in the CWCs,” alleges a staff member of the girl’s home, where the leak took place. 

This incident has raised several questions, including why the data was leaked, whether the accused CWC member collected profiles of girls from other CCIs, the role of the management in leaking the profiles, and how many are involved. The Juvenile Welfare Department has ordered an inquiry into the incident.  

It has also brought into focus the safety and health of nearly 14,000 children residing in 715 childcare homes in Andhra Pradesh, governed by 13 CWC. All licences issued by the Juvenile Welfare Correctional Services and Welfare of Street Children expired a year ago. After the incident, the State government has hurriedly started the process of issuing temporary licenses through collectors, who will be responsible for the inspection of homes.