Aftercare support and services for orphaned children who have crossed the age of 18 are still a largely unaddressed issue in our country, says Kiran Modi
In a country where there is a growing population of orphaned children, a noble cause aims to solicit support to transform them into able citizens. More commonly known as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), these are kids below 18 years of age whose parents and primary caregiver have died, and they are deemed in need of care or protection by the state. In India, most of these children are cared for and protected by the state under the Juvenile Justice legal framework. Having spent a long time in child care institutions and orphanages, these kids have to leave the care setup after attaining the age of 18 years as per the law and from this time on they are expected to take care of themselves. This transition from the care home to mainstream society is full of challenges for these young people and demands close guidance and support in order to make it smooth. Aftercare support and services for such children is still a largely unaddressed issue and at a nascent stage in our country.
In an unprecedented move, the Government of Maharashtra announced a one per cent reservation in government jobs and education for all such children and youth in the state. The reservation, termed as parallel reservation, will be provided under the general category, thus not affecting already existing reserved categories.
This step has largely been viewed as a facilitative step since most of these children and youth without parental care are unaware of their caste. The State’s Women and Child Welfare Minister, Pankaja Munde said, “It will help rehabilitate the orphan children and secure their future. Once they step out of the orphanage, they have to face a number of difficulties.” Having worked directly with such children over the last 23 years, individuals have realised that most of these children and youth have no religion, caste, class or creed and are united solely by their experience of being abused, vulnerable, exploited and abandoned. The vulnerabilities faced by them are enormous. Having experienced abuse, neglect and abandonment in their early years, most of them suffer and carry a deep-rooted trauma, which mostly goes untreated as they remain out of family networks and individualised care. They need the support of government and the entire society to help them find their footing and become independent. Most of them have not been prepared adequately to be independent. The mechanisms for supporting them in key life domains such as education, accommodation, higher education and life-skills are still absent in this country. Providing them support through this 1 per cent reservation in education and jobs will definitely help in their smooth rehabilitation and reintegration into mainstream society. Thus it has been recognised that a reservation based on class and not caste, is more appropriate as these children are the responsibility of the State.
In 2016, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) recommended a resolution stating that “those children who have lost both their parents and are below the age of 10 should be included in the OBC list and are eligible for reservation at par with all OBC castes.” The annual report of NCBC for 2014-15 clearly stated that it had identified ‘orphans’ as a “new form of backwardness” and hence to be included in the OBC list irrespective of the caste to which they belong. Even earlier, in 2015, the then Chief Minister of Telangana had asked officials to take steps to recognise all orphaned children as ‘State children’. In early 2016, the state government declared orphans and destitute children as a socially and educationally backward class. The relevant operative portion of the government reads as “The orphans and destitute children who have lost their parents before reaching the age of ten and are destitute; and who have nobody else to take care of them either by law or custom; and also who are admitted into any of the schools or orphanages run by the Government or recognised by the Government,” the need for providing them support through a 1 per cent reservation is a better plan for all these children since most of them do not know their caste and any caste linked reservation may not work for them.
There is an urgent need towards concentrating on specific areas amongst orphaned and vulnerable children in India. For example, a gap in the Maharashtra Government initiative is that it doesn’t cover healthcare. Nevertheless, it is a step in the right direction and can be strengthened in times to come. It is imperative that stakeholders come together and keep sharing good practices, challenges and learnings. It is also critical that the government makes this issue of child protection more central to their agenda.
An earnest effort in this direction is the convening of the third Biennial International Conference on “Evolving Trends in Alternative Care for Children in South Asia”. It will focus on deliberating on the rights of OVC and their concerns within a South Asian regional framework. Approx 43 million children who have lost one or both parents live in South Asia, bringing almost 43 million children into the alternative care system. The third BICON aims to delve into emerging trends in the region and bring together professionals involved in providing care and protection for all orphan and vulnerable children.
Constitutionality, International legal standards, Policy and Ethics all demand that orphan children and youth be treated with dignity, equality, equity and extra care; that it is rights-based in law and not to be addressed with prescriptive solutions, sympathy or charity. Affirmative actions are steps that the state takes to improve opportunities for those who are historically excluded as a group and are meant to focus on community connect, education and employment, thus giving increased access and opportunities to those groups. We need comprehensive data on such children through the next census of 2021. That will give governments, civil society organisations and other stakeholders an overview of the number of these children. In fact, a special survey should be conducted only addressing this population. Given the above, it is gross negligence and not less than a tragedy that no state government maintains data on the exact number of orphans in their state. The estimated number of orphan children in India varies substantially from 20 million (SOS, 2011) to 31 million (UNICEF, 2009). With the move to allow reservations for orphan children in education and jobs, it is expected that the government eventually will maintain authentic data to know how many children they are completely responsible for. Affirmative action in favour of orphan children should hence be based on their vulnerabilities and circumstances and not on caste since they have none.
With the Maharashtra state already taking the lead in the right direction, it is time now that they live up to their promise, implement the proposed course of action and show the way for other state governments to follow suit. Implementation of such affirmative action policy is the key to the success of this order and a dire need in this country. More rigorous efforts should be made to ensure timeliness in taking action. The State Governments should take adequate efforts to enable these children and youth to achieve their potential. Civil society also has a huge role in monitoring and facilitating this exercise in a manner that it benefits orphan children. Organisations and individuals should come forward and participate in improving the already established systems and also bring in new practices and ideas that can be used. Some examples of public-private partnerships have worked wonderfully in this country and it is time that we explore similar steps at a national scale. The community, the corporate houses and the regular citizens of this country need to take responsibility for orphan, vulnerable children and youth. They are as much part of society as anyone else so it is hoped that gradually the Indian political system will be able to reduce the sheer indifference it has shown so far to orphan children and stand up for them and their rights. In this sense, this step of the Maharashtra Government to be a pathfinder, if not a path- breaker and is a good initiative. There is a need for a much stronger affirmation of the rights of orphan and vulnerable children at every step of their life. The need for a more enabling environment in our country should be such that these children are shown empathy and not sympathy.
(The author works for child rights)