Odisha Reviews Child Protection Framework, Calls for Stronger Convergence Among Departments

Bhubaneswar: A high-level meeting of the State-Level Child Protection and Welfare Monitoring and Review Committee was held at Lok Seva Bhawan today under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja. The session focused on evaluating Odisha’s institutional and non-institutional mechanisms for child protection and emphasized the need for stronger coordination among departments and stakeholders.

Director of Women and Child Development, Monisha Banerjee, presented a comprehensive overview of child protection initiatives, including the implementation of the Mission Vatsalya scheme. Odisha currently operates 220 Child Care Institutions (CCIs) housing 8,150 children, with another 6,317 under non-institutional care. The state also has 30 District Child Protection Units, 31 Child Welfare Committees, and 34 Juvenile Justice Boards.

Highlighting the state’s progress in adoption, officials noted a steady rise in in-country adoptions over the last three years, with a higher rate of girl child adoption. Odisha has 160 children’s homes, 33 specialized adoption agencies, and multiple shelters and observation homes. The integration of services like Child Helpline 1098, Women Helpline 181, and ERSS-112 has enhanced response systems for children in distress.

The meeting also reviewed vocational training efforts, with 8,130 youths trained across 264 programmes. Of these, 211 children have secured jobs and 79 are self-employed. Initiatives like yoga in CCIs, educational tech access, and exposure visits to World Skill Centres were appreciated.

Chief Secretary Ahuja called for intensified district-level monitoring and emphasized greater accountability among child care institutions. He stressed inter-departmental collaboration, especially among Women & Child Development, Education, Health, PR&DW, and Skill Development departments. Additional Chief Secretary Anu Garg recommended that senior officials include visits to schools and child care centres during their field tours.

Over 51,000 children have benefited from the state’s Ashirbad Yojana. Officials also discussed upcoming plans to set up child help centres at major transit points and operationalize the Amari Shishu Portal to digitize child care data.