This is prepared based on the district need assessment plan of child protection issues in Thanjavur District.

1. District Need Assessment of
Child Protection in Thanjavur
Conducted By
Dr. A. Sivagami
Head & Asst. Professor
Department of Social Work
Bharathidasan University
Constituent College for Women, Orathanadu

2. INTRODUCTION
• India is home to almost 19% of the world‘s
children.
• Children Population in India is 1.2 billion
(Census 2011)
• 40% of Nation’s population is children
• India‘s children are India‘s future but 40% are
vulnerable to or experiencing difficult
circumstances.

3. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
• Article 14 -equality before the law
• Article 15 -State shall make special provision for women and children
• Article 21 - no person shall be deprived of his life
• Article 21 -State shall provide free and compulsory education to all
children
• Article 23 -prohibits trafficking of human beings and forced labour.
• Article 24 -prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 yrs
• Article 25-28 -provides freedom of conscience, and free profession,
practice and propagation of religion.
• Article 39 -children are given opportunities & facilities to develop in a
healthy manner
• Article 45 -Early childhood care and education for children under 6 yrs.

4. Legislations related to children
• The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929
• The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000
• The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods
(Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992
• The Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique
(Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act 1994
• The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of
Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995
• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956
• The Guardian and Wards Act 1890
• The Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1956
• The Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act 2005

5. Policies of GoI
• National Policy for Children 1974
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – India signed in
1992
• National Charter for Children 2004
• Millennium Development Goals
• SAARC Conventions on Child Welfare and Combating
Trafficking of Women and Children in SAARC Region
• National Plan of Action for Children 2005
• Commissions for Protection of the Rights of the Child, 2005

6. International conventions on CP
• UN Convention of the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC) 1989
• UN Standard Minimum Rules for the
Administration of JJ (The Beijing Rules), 1985
• UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles
Deprived of their Liberty, 1990
• Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption,
1993.

7. Definition of Child
• UNCRC - every human being below the age of eighteen
years
• Indian Constitution – Article 21 says all children between
the ages of 6-14 should be provided with free and
compulsory education.
• The child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986 - a person who has not completed 14 yrs of age.
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of
Children) Act, 2000 - person who has not completed 18
yrs of age.

8. UNCRC – Children Development
Four Broad Classifications of Rights
•Right to Survival: A child’s right to survival begins before a
child is born.
•Right to Development: Children have the right to all forms of
development: Emotional, mental and physical.
•Right to Protection: A Child has the right to be protected
from neglect, exploitation and abuse at home and elsewhere.
•Right to Participation: A child has a right to participate in
any decision making that involves him/her directly or
indirectly.

9. Existing CP Mechanisms
• A Programme for Juvenile Justice for children in need of care and
protection and children in conflict with law.
• An Integrated Programme for Street Children - NGOs are supported
to run 24 hours shelters
• CHILDLINE Service for children in distress, to rescue them from abuse
• Scheme for Assistance to Homes for Children (Shishu Greha) to
Promote In-Country Adoption for care and protection of
orphans/abandoned/ destitute infants or children up to 6 years
• Scheme for Working Children in Need of Care and Protection for
children kept as domestic child labour

10. Existing CP …..
• Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for the Children of
Working Mothers in the age group of 0-6 years.
• Pilot Project to Combat the Trafficking of women and Children
for Commercial Sexual Exploitation to provide care and
protection to trafficked and sexually abused women and children.
• Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) to promote in-country
adoption and regulate inter-country adoption.
• National Child Labour Project (NCLP) for rehabilitation of child
labourers.

11. Gaps in Services
• Lack of prevention
• Poor planning and coordination
• Services are negligible relative to the needs
• Poor infrastructure
• Inadequate human resources
• Serious service gaps
• Weak accountability, monitoring and evaluation

12. ICPS – An Introduction
Based on the principles of
•Protection of child rights‖
•Best interest of the child‖
ICPS objectives :
•To improve the well being of children in difficult
circumstances,
•to reduce the vulnerabilities to situations and
actions that lead to children abuse, neglect,
exploitation, and violence.

13. Why ICPS ?
• Lot of efforts to address issues like child
education, health and development.
• But there are issues of child abuse and neglect
like female foeticide and infanticide, girl child
discrimination, child marriage, trafficking of
children, etc.
• Child protection issue has remained largely
unaddressed.
• If these issues of child are not addressed, it will
affect the overall progress of the country.

14. District Need Assessment
Plan of Thanjavur District
• To have better understanding on ground situation
on rights of children in the context of access to
survival, development, participatory and
protection of rights.
• To support in the development of District Child
Protection Plans for smooth implementation of
ICPS in Thanjavur District.

15. Specific Tasks
• Conduct a comprehensive need assessment in the district on child
protection by establishing the nature and magnitude of the gaps in
knowledge, skills, aptitudes and attitudes of the existing CP
services in the district.
• Situational analysis of child issues in the district with special
emphasis on magnitude of the issue, stakeholders involved in
service provision, services available and gaps in services.
• District level mapping of child interventions both government and
non governmental organizations with their capacities, resources,
performance and gaps.

16. Research Design
• A questionnaire-based survey for the village
Panchayat in 14 blocks.
• A focus group component for children (male and
female), aged 5-17 years and community members.
• Key informant interview with selected
stakeholder from government agencies, civil
society organizations working with children.

17. Interview Schedule
• Children without family care – Abandoned,
surrendered, orphaned
• Child Abuse – Physical / Sexual / Emotional
(Neglect)
• Child Trafficking
• Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
• Child Marriage
• Child Labour
• Children Living / Working on the streets

18. Interview schedule…..
• Children affected by HIV/AIDS
• Children with special needs (Disabilities, Mental
Health)
• Children affected by Natural / Man made
calamities
• Children affected by civil unrest
• Children affected by Substance Abuse
• Issues specific to girls
• Any other form of violence which impacts children
(eg. Domestic violence, Corporal Punishment, etc)

19. Focus Group Discussion
• Structural, social-cultural, socio-economic drivers of
child abuse.
• Communication practices between parents and children.
• Traditional practices of child rearing and child
protection.
• Harmful practices (eg. Child Marriage) and how they can
be addressed.
• Community-based child protection practices and systems.
• Strengths and gaps in existing child protection systems
at community level

20. Indepth Interviews
• Officers involved in CP
• Training details – Orientation, Refresher
and the training organization
• Way of dealing with cases
• Special case studies
• Review Meetings
• And so on

21. Study Sites & Population
• The study was conducted in Thanjavur District including 14
blocks and 3 municipalities.
Target Groups :
• in and out of school children (aged 5-17)
• community members
• community leaders – both formal and informal.
• PRI representatives mainly Panchayat Presidents
• representatives of government departments
• civil society organizations working with children

22. Data Collection
Training of field teams
•5 separate field teams - 1 supervisor and 5
interviewers.
•Training on objectives, procedures and methods to
be followed.
Supervision
• On-site supervision of data collection by the
supervisors in 14 blocks.

23. Progress
• Secondary Data were collected from various
sources
• Questionnaire survey was completed in 14 blocks
covering about 5900 respondents
• About 58 FGDs were conducted in the villages
• 25 Indepth interviews were completed with
Government departments / NGOs
• The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the
survey is simultaneously going on

24. Key observations
• Children without family care - orphaned
• Child Abuse – Physical / Sexual / Emotional
(Neglect) – exists here and there
• Child Marriage – almost in every village
• Child Labour – Pattukkottai, Kumbakonam,
etc.
• Children Living / Working on the streets –
esp. in Municipalities

25. Key observations…
• Children affected by HIV/AIDS –
Athur village
• Children with special needs
(Disabilities, Mental Health) – almost
in every panchayat
• Domestic violence
• Corporal Punishment – a few cases

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