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Child homes to come under scanner

BERHAMPUR: A survey will be conducted in Ganjam district to unearth unregistered children homes and orphanages.

It was decided at a workshop jointly organised by district administration, Childline, and Vasundhara on Wednesday to discuss the registration of child homes in the district. The workshop was attended by Berhampuur Sub-Collector Ajit Mishra, district welfare officer Sabita Beura, and member of Ganjam Child Welfare Committee (CMC) P. Narasingha Patra. Persons related to child homes also attended the workshop.

Sudhir Sabat, Director of ISRD-Childline, came up with a revealing fact that their initial survey revealed existence of 13 child homes in the district which were not registered with the State government. Around 800 children, who were either orphans or from poor families from outside the district were staying in these unregistered child homes.

One such unregistered “children's home” exists in the heart of the city and it has 120 girls in it.

Participants of the workshop expressed concern over the fact that there was ample chance of exploitation of inmates in these unregistered children's homes due to lack of accountability.

Moreover, the managing bodies of these child homes easily shrug off their responsibility in case of any harm to an inmate or a missing child.

Although most of the unregistered child homes are managed by social organisations, there are also some child homes that are totally managed by private persons and religious bodies where accountability is negligible.

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