Beyond 18 Leaving Child Care Institutions
Authors: Udayan Care, UNICEF, Tata Trust
Publication Date: 30/08/2019
Publisher: UNICEF
Place of Publication: New Delhi
Abstract:Alternative Care is defined as care for children without parental care and for other vulnerable children who are not under the custody of their biological parents. It includes adoption, foster care, guardianship, residential care, and other community-based arrangements for the care of children in need, particularly for children without primary caregivers. For children without parental care living in formal or informal settings of Alternative Care (also referred to as children in Out-of-Home Care (OHC)), the State is mandated to act as their guardian and to ensure their safety and development through child protection measures dictated by national and state legislation and policy frameworks. Aftercare is one component of Alternative Care.
In India, the State has committed to protecting youth from exploitation and from moral and material abandonment. The Constitution of India, in Article 39(f), requires the State to direct its policy towards securing that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner, in conditions of freedom and dignity, such that children and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, along with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules and the Central Government’s Child Protection Scheme (CPS, formerly ICPS), also makes provisions for services for youth leaving state care, referred to as “Aftercare”.
Aftercare is defined as making provision of support, financial or otherwise, to persons who have completed the age of eighteen years but have not completed the age of twenty-one years and have left institutional care to join the mainstream of the society" (section 2(5), JJ Act, 2015).
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Source: Manual