Who are the children in need of care and protection?

Children are the most valuable assets of the nation. They are the most innocent and sensitive souls who need to be nurtured with love and care, as they are the future of the nation and citizens of tomorrow. Children are also the most vulnerable sections of society as they are powerless to protect their own rights and may easily fall prey to any kind of violence. Thus to reinforce the protective approach towards the children the “Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act 2015” was brought into effect. The JJ Act clearly lays down the definition for the children who are in need of care and protection. Its basic motive is to safeguard the rights of children ensuring their safety, well-being and overall development.
As per section 2 [14] of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act 2015, a child in need of care and protection means a child “who is found without any home or settled of abode and without any ostensible means of subsistence or who is found working in contravention of labor laws for the time being in force or is found begging or living on the street or who resides with person [whether a guardian of the child or not] and such person has injured, exploited, abused or neglected the child or has violated any other law for the time being in force meant for the protection of child or has threatened to kill, injure, exploit or abuse the child and there is a reasonable likelihood of the threat being carried out or has killed, abused, neglected or exploited some other child or children and there is a reasonable likelihood of the child in question being killed, abused, exploited or neglected by that person or who is mentally or physically challenged or suffering from any terminal or incurable disease, having no one to support or look after or having parents unfit to take care or who has a parent or guardian and such parent or guardian is found to be unfit or incapacitated by the Juvenile Justice Board or child welfare committee”.
The child welfare committee constituted under section 27 of the JJ Act has the final authority to dispose of the matters of children in need of care and protection and such children are to be produced before the committee within 24 hours. The committee later sends the child to appropriate child care institutions and instructs the social worker or case worker to conduct the social investigation within 15 days. The child will be placed in a children’s home for care, treatment, education, training development and rehabilitation. Restoration and protection is the prime objective of any childcare institution.
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