The baby cradle centres in Kerala, aimed at providing shelter for children abandoned by their parents, are set to be upgraded by using latest technologies to make them more secure and accountable. The State Government has also planned to more than double the number of “Ammathottil’, as the centres are known in local parlance, from existing 14 to at least 30.
An initiative under the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW), the cradle centres provides care and services for abandoned children.
It has been planned to make the centres hi-tech by upgrading the existing alarm, which is sounded when a baby is placed in the cradle, and taking a photo of the child and recording its weight and sending the details to officials through mobile phone, a senior KSCCW official said.
Launched on November 14, 2002, ‘Ammathottil’ seeks to provide better life conditions for the destitute, abandoned and relinquished children rather than being abandoned on way sides or other places.
As soon as the babies are left at the cradle, an automatic alarm would be sounded and officials would come and collect the child.
The babies, received at the cradles, would be brought up at the council’s child care centres.
At present, the state has 14 baby cradle centres and the plan was to increase it at least up to 30 in one year besides several of the existing centres would be shifted to ideal locations, KSCCW general secretary Deepak S P said.
“The Government has decided to increase the number of Ammathottils as part of its child-friendly policy,” Deepak told PTI. The existing facilities would be upgraded using sensor technology and leverage mobile telephony to make the centres more secure and the whole process more accountable, he said.
A number of complaints have cropped up recently regarding private child care and adoption centres, he noted.