SHILLONG, April 16: In a bid to provide the much-needed care for children, the Meghalaya government and the SOS Children’s Villages of India (SOSCVI) — India’s largest childcare NGO dedicated to the welfare of the children who have lost or are at the risk of losing parental care — have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to design and implement a five-year programme to provide individual foster care to as many as 50 children without parental care in some of the state districts.
Individual foster care is a form of family-based care wherein children are raised in families other than their kin.
As the implementing agency and technical partner, SOSCVI will assist the Meghalaya government in supporting the children and their caregivers in and around Ri Bhoi and East Khasi Hills districts — the regions identified for this pilot project.
The children will be placed in unrelated but suitable families in the community initially for a short period, which could be periodically extended till the child attains 18 years of age.
The MoU was signed by Sumanta Kar, secretary general, SOS Children’s Villages of India, and DD Shira, Director of Social Welfare, Meghalaya.
Speaking about the MoU, Kar said functionaries at SOSCVI have decades of experience in extending care to children, who are deprived of parental care, under the Group Foster Care model in the children’s villages as well as other models of alternative care for every child in need.
The SOS Children’s Village Shillong, which was established in the year 1999, is sheltering 127 children in 12 family homes.
Additionally, over 500 children are under their direct care through the community-based Family Strengthening Programme. “We are also supporting 22 children through 15 families through the Kinship Care Programme. The knowledge and competency that we acquired over half a century will help us take this project to its fruitful completion. Children require different care solutions based on their need and this project is an attempt towards that,” Kar added.
While signing the MOU, Shira said, “The Social Welfare department is pleased to be joining hands with SOS Children’s Villages of India for fulfilling the rights of children”.
As per the MoU, SOSCVI would also ensure the school admission of all children and provide additional academic support to them within the first two months of their enrolment in the programme.
Meghalaya State Child Protection Society will provide the list of eligible foster parents to SOSCVI with their contact details along with the details of the children who need care and protection.
The government will also provide financial support for the care of children — the foster parents will be given financial support as per government norms.
A Monitoring Committee, headed by the Director of Social Welfare and SOSCVI members, will do periodic monitoring and submit reports and maintain child records.
On successful completion of the pilot project, the programme would be extended and replicated in other districts in the state, in partnership with SOSCVI.
