Law and You> Criminal Laws > Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 > Child Care Institutions (CCIs)

The Juvenile Justice Act provides for the setting up of institutional care structures for children. The institutions are separate for children in need of care and protection (CNCP) and children in conflict with law (CCL). Where the child’s own family is unable, even with appropriate support, to provide adequate care for the child, or abandons or relinquishes the child, the State is responsible for protecting the rights of the child and ensuring appropriate alternative care, with or through competent local authorities and duly authorized civil society organizations (CSOs). In this article, let us discuss Child Care Institutions.

The JJ Act provides a range of options for residential care for the different categories of children. The residential categories can be divided into two categories broadly:

• Homes – Observation Homes, Special Homes, Place of Safety for CCL and Children’s Homes for CNCP
• Open Shelter, Fit Facility, Fit persons who are to provide community-based residential care to children. These are different from adoption, foster care and sponsorship, which fall in the category of non-institutional care.

In this section we try to understand, what are these institutions, what are their functioning processes and how do they undertake the rehabilitation of children.

Child Care Institutions (CCI):

Under Section 2(21) of JJ Act, 2015, “child care institution” means Children Home, open shelter, observation home, special home, place of safety, Specialized Adoption Agency and a fit facility recognised under this Act for providing care and protection to children, who are in need of such services.

Objectives of Child Care Institutions:

Every child and young person should live in a supportive, protective and caring environment that promotes his/her full potential. Children with inadequate or no parental care are at special risk of being denied such a nurturing environment. Considering this approach we can summarize the objectives of CCI as follows:

• To protect children from or against any perceived or real danger or risk to their life, their personhood and childhood.
• To reduce their vulnerability to any kind of harm and ensuring that no child falls out of the social safety net and that those who do, receive necessary care, protection and support so as to bring them back into the safety net.
• To provide a safe environment for these children, it is imperative to ensure that all other children also remain protected. This is because Child protection is integrally linked to every other right of the child.
• To cater to their basic needs through proper care, protection, development, treatment, social re-integration, by adopting a child-friendly approach.
• To strengthen structures for emergency outreach, institutional care, family and community-based care, counselling and support services at the national, regional, state and district levels

Compulsory Registration of Child Care Institutions (CCI):

According to Section 2(51) of the JJ Act, 2015 (51) “registered”, with reference to child care institutions or agencies or facilities managed by the State Government, or a voluntary or non-governmental organisation, means observation homes, special homes, place of safety, children’s homes, open shelters or Specialised Adoption Agency or fit facility or any other institution that may come up in response to a particular need or agencies or facilities authorised and registered under section 41, for providing residential care to children, on a short-term or long-term basis.

Section 41:

Registration of child care institutions:

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, all institutions, whether run by a State Government or by voluntary or non-governmental organisations, which are meant, either wholly or partially, for housing children in need of care and protection or children in conflict with law, shall, be registered under this Act in such manner as may be prescribed, regardless of whether they are receiving grants from the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government or not:

Provided that the institutions having valid registration under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (56 of 2000) on the date of commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been registered under this Act.

(2) At the time of registration under this section, the State Government shall, after considering the recommendations of the District Magistrate, determine and record the capacity and purpose of the institution and shall register the institution as a Childrens Home or open shelter or Specialised Adoption Agency or observation home or special home or place of safety, as the case may be.

(3) On receipt of application for registration under sub-section (1), from an existing or new institution housing children in need of care and protection or children in conflict with law, the State Government may grant provisional registration, within one month from the date of receipt of application, for a maximum period of six months, in order to bring such institution under the purview of this Act, and shall determine the capacity of the Home which shall be mentioned in the registration certificate:

Provided that if the said institution does not fulfil the prescribed criteria for registration, within the period specified in sub-section (1), the provisional registration shall stand cancelled and the provisions of sub-section (5) shall apply.

(4) If the State Government does not issue a provisional registration certificate within one month from the date of application, the proof of receipt of application for registration shall be treated as provisional registration to run an institution for a maximum period of six months.

(5) If the application for registration is not disposed of within six months by any officer or officers of any State Government, it shall be regarded as dereliction of duty on their part by their higher controlling authority and appropriate departmental proceedings shall be initiated.

(6) The period of registration of an institution shall be five years, and it shall be subject to renewal in every five years.

(7) The State Government may, after following the procedure as may be prescribed, cancel or withhold registration, as the case may be, of such institutions which fail to provide rehabilitation and reintegration services as specified in section 53 and till such time that the registration of an institution is renewed or granted, the State Government shall manage the institution.

(8) Any child care institution registered under this section shall be duty bound to admit children, subject to the capacity of the institution, as directed by the Committee, whether they are receiving grants from the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government or not.

(9) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the inspection committee appointed under section 54, shall have the powers to inspect any institution housing children, even if not registered under this Act to determine whether such institution is housing children in need of care and protection.

The JJ Act allows institutional facilities for children to be set up by both government and non-government organizations (NGOs). However, as per law, all CCIs, whether they are for CNCP or for CCL, are required to be compulsorily registered under JJ Act 2015 within six months of the JJ Act 2015 having been enacted. This requirement for registration is irrespective of who is running such homes – government, voluntary organization or NGO. Even those institutions that are not receiving government funds are required to register. The period of registration of an institution shall be five years, and it shall be subject to renewal in every five years.

In case institutions fail to meet the necessary standards as laid out in the law and elucidated in the rules, the State Government has the duty to cancel the registration. In case the registration of an institution is cancelled, the management of the institution will be passed on to the State Government till the registration is renewed or granted. This is to ensure that children in the institution are not displaced and are cared for properly till necessary remedial actions have been taken.

Institutions for Child Care Institutions for CCL:

Observation Home:

An Observation Home is a child-care facility that is “for the temporary reception, care, and rehabilitation of any kid claimed to violate the law, while an inquiry is pending. 

According to Section 2(40) of the JJ Act, 2015, “observation home” means an observation home established and maintained in every district or group of districts by a State Government, either by itself, or through a voluntary or non-governmental organisation, and is registered as such, for the purposes specified in sub-section (1) of section 47;

The JJMR, 2016, Rule 29(1)(i) states that there must be separate Observation Homes for boys and girls, as well as age-based segregation, should be implemented, taking into account physical and mental health, as well as the severity of the offence committed.

Special Home:

A Special Home is an institution that is responsible for “housing and providing rehabilitative services” to children who have been found guilty of a crime and ordered by the JJB or the Children’s Court to be placed there as defined under Section 2(56) of the JJ Act, 2015.

According to Section 2(56) of the JJ Act, 2015, “special home” means an institution established by a State Government or by a voluntary or non-governmental organization, registered under section 48, for housing and providing rehabilitative services to children in conflict with law, who are found, through inquiry, to have committed an offence and are sent to such institution by an order of the Board.

Place of Safety:

A “Place of Safety” is a child-care facility for children who have been accused of or found to violate the law as per Section 49 of the JJ Act 2015, at least one haven should be established by the state government. Separate arrangements and facilities should be created for children or people under investigation and children or people who have been convicted.

According to Section 2(46) of the JJ Act, 2015, “place of safety” means any place or institution, not being a police lockup or jail, established separately or attached to an observation home or a special home, as the case may be, the person in-charge of which is willing to receive and take care of the children alleged or found to be in conflict with law, by an order of the Board or the Children’s Court, both during inquiry and ongoing rehabilitation after having been found guilty for a period and purpose as specified in the order.

Institutions for CCI for CNCP Under the JJ Act:

Children’s Home:

The purpose of the children’s homes is to receive any child in care or for protecting any delinquent juvenile during the pendency of any inquiry and also subsequently for their care, treatment, education, training, development and rehabilitation.

According to Section 2(19) of the JJ Act, 2015, “Children’s Home” means a Children’s Home, established or maintained, in every district or group of districts, by the State Government, either by itself, or through a voluntary or non-governmental organisation, and is registered as such for the purposes specified in section 50.

Open Shelter:

According to Section 2(41) of the JJ Act, 2015, “open shelter” means a facility for children, established and maintained by the State Government, either by itself, or through a voluntary or non-governmental organisation under sub-section (1) of section 43, and registered as such, for the purposes specified in that section.

Specialised Adoption Agency:

According to Section 2(57) of the JJ Act, 2015, “Specialised Adoption Agency” means an institution established by the State Government or by a voluntary or non-governmental organisation and recognised under section 65, for housing orphans, abandoned and surrendered children, placed there by order of the Committee, for the purpose of adoption.

Functioning of various CCIs:

• The CCIs for CCL and CNCP shall function from separate premises as per the criteria elaborated.
• They shall be child-friendly and in no way shall they look like a jail or lock-up.
• They shall keep a copy of the Act and the rules framed by the State Government, for use by both the staff and children residing therein.
• They shall have a Management Committee for the management of the institution and monitoring the progress of every child in the home.
• They shall prepare an individual care plan for every child in institutional care shall be developed with the ultimate aim of the child being rehabilitated and re-integrated based on their case history, circumstances and individual needs. Individual care plan shall be based on the guidelines in following sections:
• Every institution shall have a Management Committee, to be set up in a manner as may be prescribed, to manage the institution and monitor the progress of every child.
• The officer in-charge of every institution, housing children above six years of age, shall facilitate setting up of children’s committees for participating in such activities as may be prescribed, for the safety and well-being of children in the institution.

Need for Alternative to CCIs:

It is universally accepted that even the best institution cannot substitute the nurturing care that a family can give to a child. Studies and experiences have shown that a child who has been deprived of family care and brought up in a large impersonal institution may show some of the following problems:

• Lack of individual attention, individualisation, one-to-one caring and interaction makes it difficult for a child to feel secure and bonded to one caregiver.
• “Multiple Mothering” syndrome – when a child is cared for by changing staff, the child is unable to form an attachment with any one person. This leads to a lot of emotional isolation and insecurity in the child.
• Excessive “Routinisation” and “Regementisation” does not take into account individual needs of the child and hence the child either becomes very reticent and submissive or may react by becoming defiant and rebellious.
• Inability to form lasting, meaningful relationships. The child finds it difficult to trust people in authority or even peers when he has had too many negative experiences. These negativities have been shown to be carried on in adult life in various researches as much as that children coming out of institutions are maladjusted in the society.
• Due to the psychological, emotional and nutritional deprivation these children may also show poor academic performance, and other behavioural problems.
• The “Institutionalised Child Syndrome” is sometimes evident in the child’s “self-esteem”. Some children may develop poor self-worth, which may reflect later in inter personal relationship problems.

Alternative Care:

Alternative care refers to the spectrum of services available to children whose parents are no longer able to provide adequate care. Children outside parental care often live with their extended families in kinship care arrangements or in other types of alternative care, such as adoption and foster care and many other variations of family and community-based care.

Some of the alternate care programmes are as follows:

• Adoption aims to provide a child who cannot be cared for by his biological parents with a permanent substitute family.
• Foster Care for children who cannot be placed in adoption. The foster parents should have stable emotional adjustment within the family, physically, mentally and emotionally and shall be declared ‘fit person’ by the Committee before placing the child as per provisions laid down in the Act.
• Sponsorship is a necessary support service provided to those families and children which have been identified as families at risk. The support is given for the child’s education, health, nutrition and other developmental needs. After Care Organisations provide services for care of juveniles or children after they leave Special Homes and Children’s Homes.
• Rehabilitation is a treatment or treatments designed to facilitate the process of recovery from mental or physical injury, illness, or disease to as normal a condition as possible. A proper and adequate rehabilitation programme can reverse many disabling conditions or can help children to cope with deficits that cannot be reversed by medical care. Rehabilitation addresses the physical, psychological, and environmental needs of the person.

Conclusion:

The Juvenile Justice Institutions are giving emphasis on open-ended, informal and highly flexible policies to rehabilitate and reform the delinquent. The courts tried to focus the best interest of the child and they emphasized an informal, non-adversarial and flexible approach to the cases of juveniles. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 can be considered as a comprehensive legislation on the topic. There are provisions and rules concerning Childcare institutions but what is required is a stricter implementation. The objective of the enactment of the Act will be fulfilled only when there is a stricter implementation of the laws relating to it.