Child Protection Services hampered by delayed funding in Nagaland

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 14 (EMN): Despite putting in place all service delivery structures, executing policies and schemes of Child Protection Services (CPS) in Nagaland takes time because of delay in the release of fund by the central as well as state governments, according to the commissioner and secretary of Social Welfare department, Sarah R Ritse.

She cited this as one of the major challenges while presenting a brief report on CPS and Juvenile Justice Act at the ‘State Review of Juvenile Justice System—Effective Implementation of Statutes and Policies and Effective Functioning of Institutions’. It was organised by the High Court Committee on Juvenile Justice, Gauhati High Court Kohima branch in partnership with UNICEF and other stakeholders at Hotel Japfü in Kohima on Saturday.

Ritse said that the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 was adopted on March 22, 2018 and the Nagaland Juvenile Justice Rules 2017 was notified on February 2020. Child Protection Services (CPS) Nagaland was launched in 2010 and Nagaland is the third state in India and the first in Northeast to have adopted this scheme, she informed.

The officer said that all the service delivery structures in the child protection services scheme have been put in place, both at the state and district levels, and 318 staff is working under this scheme in Nagaland.

“Child protection is a serious as well as sensitive issue and we all need to collectively reach out to every type of children in need of protection and provide maximum benefit to all the children,” she stated.

Ritse also mentioned that since CPS is just a society, and not a full-fledged government body, it becomes difficult to regulate and monitor, especially those that do not receive support from the scheme.

“The officer and staff under CPS are underpaid, considering the amount of work that goes in protecting children; and this, in the long run, is not cost-effective and hampers the smooth functioning of the scheme,” she stated.

Ritse suggested training on a child-friendly procedure for all the stakeholders, particularly police and judiciary, especially in handling POCSO cases so that the child (victim) is not traumatised during the procedure.

“The guidelines for non-institutional care services should be culturally relevant and flexibility should be given to the state as per state-specific need,” she proposed.

Ritse reminded that child protection is a multi-sartorial and multi-disciplinary issue that requires the involvement of everyone. “It is the primary responsibility of the family, supported by community, government and civil society,” she stated.