J&K approves rehabilitation policy for Children in Street Situation

Jammu, Dec 20 The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, accorded its approval to the Rehabilitation Policy for Children in Street Situation (CiSS) to safeguard them from different hazards, officials said on Tuesday.

As per the canons of the Juvenile Justice Act, Children in Street Situation fall in the category of children in need of care and protection. The Act empowers the government to frame a policy for the rehabilitation of such children in distress.

Earlier the Social Welfare Department through MD, ICPS (now Mission Vatsalya) carried out an exercise for identification of such CiSS and so far 687 such children have been identified.

As per the policy, Health, School Education, H&UDD, RDD, Home, Labour and Employment departments have been assigned specific roles and responsibilities for ensuring proper implementation of the policy in letter and spirit. The same would be monitored by a committee headed by the Chief Secretary to review its implementation in the Union Territory.

The Social welfare Department will be responsible for the regular monitoring of the implementation of the policy to protect and safeguard the future of all such children in J&K.