Parliament Question: Child Care Institutions

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1310 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2026 CHILD CARE INSTITUTIONS 1310. SHRI ATUL GARG : Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state: (a) the details of the Child Care Institutions (CCIs) supported under the Mission Vatsalya in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh; (b) the current status of the sponsorship and foster care program for the vulnerable children in the said district; (c) the details of the measures being taken to rehabilitate the children living in street situations and prevent child begging at the traffic signals of the city; (d) the details of the functioning of the Child Welfare Committee and the Juvenile Justice Board; and (e) the details of the Government's initiative to track missing children using the 'TrackChild' portal? ANSWER MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI) (a) & (b): Mission Vatsalya scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) which is implemented through States/Union Territories (UTs) to deliver services for Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) and Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) which include Institutional Care and Non-Institutional Care. Under the scheme Institutional Care is provided through Child Care Institutions (CCIs), as a rehabilitative measure. The programmes and activities in Homes inter-alia include age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling etc. Under the Non-Institutional Care component, support is extended for Adoption, Foster Care, After Care and Sponsorship. The primary responsibility of execution of the Act and implementation of Scheme lies with the States/UTs. In Financial Year 2024-25 164 CCIs have been financially supported under Mission Vatsalya Scheme in the State of Uttar Pradesh including 2 CCIs in Ghaziabad district. Support for non-institutional care including sponsorship and foster care programme has also been extended to Uttar Pradesh. District-wise data of beneficiaries under the scheme is not maintained centrally.(c) The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has launched a “CiSS application” under the Baal Swaraj portal to help in the rehabilitation process of Children in Street Situations. (CiSS). This portal, developed by, NCPCR is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India to help children in street situations. The CiSS application is used for receiving data of children in street situations including children involved in begging from all the States and Union Territories, tracking their rescue and rehabilitation process. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated a scheme “SMILE - Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise”, which includes a sub-scheme - ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging’. This scheme covers several comprehensive measures including welfare measures for persons who are engaged in the act of begging. The focus of the scheme is extensively on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages and so on. Persons engaged in the act of Begging are to be covered under the scheme. (d) The Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry for implementing the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act, 2015), which is the primary legislation for ensuring safety, security, dignity and well-being of children. It defines standards of care and protection to secure the best interest of child. Under the JJ Act 2015 (Sections 27-30), the Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) have been empowered to take decisions with regard to the children in need of care and protection, keeping their best interest in mind. They are also mandated to monitor the function of the Child Care Institutions (CCIs). Similarly, the Juvenile Justice Boards are empowered to take decisions regarding the welfare of children in conflict with law (Sections 04-09). At the national and state level, the JJ Act provides the National/State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights to monitor the implementation of the Act (Section 109). (e): The Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched the revamped Mission Vatsalya Portal which is an integrated Digital platform for all the stakeholders related to child protection services. Mission Vatsalya portal is a technologically upgraded secure portal which provides digital working platform for various stakeholders across different levels at State and district. The earlier Khoya-Paya and TrackChild services have been brought under this unified portal. The key features of Mission Vatsalya Portal include single digital platform for use by the Stakeholders i.e. State Child Protection Society, State Adoption Resource Agency at State level and District Child Protection Unit, Child Welfare Committee, Juvenile Justice Board, Special Juvenile Police Unit at District level and Child Care Institutions. The portal avoids duplication of work at grassroots level. It also ensures better monitoring through various MIS Dashboards and optimum utilization of resources for planning and implementation. *****