577 children orphaned during second Covid wave, says WCD ministry

NEW DELHI: As many as 577 children were orphaned during the second wave of the ongoing pandemic across states since April, as per information available with the Union ministry of women and child development (WCD). All of these children are with their immediate families at present, their needs are being addressed and they are being monitored by the government for their safety, the ministry said.
According to sources in the WCD ministry, if one goes by the data on 577 children shared by states, it is not even close to the exaggerated figures many had claimed and shared that Delhi has so far reported just one such case to the ministry.
According to a senior official, as per the data shared by the states, these children are not abandoned and are under the protection of district authorities. Child welfare committees will be monitoring their well-being, an official said.
WCD minister Smriti Irani, in a tweet, said: “GOI (Government of India) is committed to support and protect every vulnerable child due to loss of both parents to Covid-19. From 1st April 2021 till 2 pm today, the state governments and UTs across the country have reported 577 children whose parents succumbed to Covid-19.” She went on to add that her ministry has been in continuous engagement with all states and weekly written reports are being generated since the outbreak of the pandemic, in collaboration with all states along with the NCPCR, Childline 1098 and other agencies.
Meanwhile, it was learnt from senior officials that the government has decided to allocate Rs 10 lakh per district under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme of the WCD ministry for the welfare of these children.
According to sources, the WCD ministry has taken stock of all the SOS messages for adoption that were doing the rounds on the social media and those were found to be fake. However, the WCD ministry, the ministry of home affairs and all authorities concerned are on high alert to watch out for cases of trafficking of orphanned children in the name of adoption.
Earlier, in a public notice to inform people about the procedure for rehabilitation of children, who have lost their parents to Covid-19, the WCD ministry had made it clear that people must refrain from engaging or encouraging such actions, which are in contravention of legal provisions. The ministry also stated that any person who wants to adopt an orphan child may approach Central Adoption Resource Authority ( cara.nic.in) for “lawful adoptions”.
Listing out the lawful procedure of rehabilitation of children, who lost their parents to Covid-19, the WCD said that children, who has lost both parents to Covid-19, should be produced before the District Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours, excluding the journey time.