STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL 2015 The Government of Nepal Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Central Child Welfare Board Harihar Bhawan, Lalitpur STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 | 43 | STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL 2015 The Government of Nepal Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Central Child Welfare Board Harihar Bhawan, Lalitpur STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 | i | Published By : The Government of Nepal Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Central Child Welfare Board Harihar Bhawan, Lalitpur Copyright © Central Child Welfare Board Date of Publication: 2015 Copies: 1000 Printed by Devi Printing Press Shankhamul, Kathmandu | ii | STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 Preface The Government of Nepal has been improving legal, policy, institutional and programmatic measures especially after the ratification on the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989. Some key issues regarding the rights of children have also been included in the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007. The rights and development of children have been well addressed in the national development plans especially since the Eighth Plan (1992-1997). The Government has 'National Policy on Children, 2012' as well las the 'Standard for Operation and Management of Residential Child Care Homes - 2012'. As recorded, there are 585 registered Child Care Homes (CCHs) are in operation in 2015. The funding sources and situation of CCHs vary generally from one CCH to another. As per the given mandate, Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB) has been monitoring as well as facilitating CCHs for decades. In course of updating the status of CCHs in Nepal, this Report has been prepared. I believe that the Report will be useful to understand the status of CCHs as well as improve the situation of children residing in CCHs in the days to come. As Chairperson, I assure that CCWB will put extra efforts to systematize CCH monitoring and facilitate to improve the status of CCHs that are currently being operated below the standard. (Dilli Ram Giri) Chairperson Central Child Welfare Board STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 | iii | | iv | STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 Acknowledgement The Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB) and District Child Welfare Board (DCWB) have been monitoring the Child Care Homes (CCHs) in line with the standard for operation and management of residential child care homes as well as faciliting them to make aware on the provisions of legal, policy and minimum standard. The CCWB prepares a report on the Status of Children and DCWB prepares prepares the similar report for the district level. The Central Child Welfare Board has prepared this report mainly based on the information received during renewal process of the CCHs, monitoring reports and information collected from the CCHs. This Report has come out with a total of 585 CCHs from 45 districts (out of 75) that have CCHs in operation. Of which about 76 percent CCHsare concentrated only in the Kathmandu Valley. Among the 45 districts, 17 districts have only one CCH (one per district). Of the total, 84 CCHs have less than ten children followed by 40 CCHs having only ten and 28 CCHs having only 11 children as of information received till the end of December 2014. The report finds out that there are lots of CCHs that are yet to meet the minimum standard – facilities to the children, financial transparency, child-friendly environment and safeguarding children from exploitation and/or abuse. In course of monitoring, some CCHs were found operating in very pitiable conditions that compelledCCWB/DCWB to rescue thechildren living in those CCHs. CCWB rescued 320, reintegrated 200 and rehabilited 33 children during the period of 2008 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 | v | and 2014. We hope, this report would be useful to all key stakeholders as well as readers. At the end, our sincere thanks go to Program Manger Ms. Namuna Bhusal and Monitoring Officer Mr. Yogendra Napit for preparing the draft report, Program Assistants Mr. Lochan Regmi and Mr. Devi Dotel for providing information, and National Program Advisor Mr. Gyanendra Shrestha, Senior Program Manager Mr. Kapil Aryal and Mr. Nisith Shrivastawa for final editing of the report Tarak Dhital Executive Director Central Child Welfare Board | vi | STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 Contents Chapter – One:INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Report Preparation Process 2 Chapter – Two:CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL 3 2.1 Description and Trend of Child Care Homes 3 2.2 Nature of Child Care Homes in Nepal 3 2.3 District-wise Child Care Homes in Nepal 4 2.4 Major Five Districts Having High Numbers of Child Care Homes 8 2.5 Institutional Care Run by Sahid Pratisthan 10 2.6 Problems and Challenges of Child Care Homes in Nepal 11 Chapter – Three: EFFORTS OF CENTRAL CHILD WELFARE BOARD 13 3.1 Capacity Building (Training/ Workshop/ Summit) 13 3.2 Monitoring of Child Care Homes 15 3.3 Children Rescued, Reintegration and Rehabilitation 15 3.4 Financial Support Provided to the Child Care Homes by CCWB 17 3.5 Major Progress up to 2014 18 Chapter – Four:CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 20 Annex 23 1. Detail of Child Care Homes and Number of Children 2. Number of Rescued, Reintegrated and Referred Children 3. The Detail of Financial Support Provided to CCHs STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 | vii | | viii | STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 Chapter – One INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The Government of Nepal (GoN) ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 on 14th September 1990 as well as the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography on 20 January, 2006, and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict on 19 September, 2007. The provisions of these instruments are part of the legal system of Nepal. The Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB) as a statutory body formed by the Children's Act 2048 BS (1992)1 is responsible to provide child related policy advice to the GoN as well as to ensure the rights of children in the nation by collaborating with civil society, national and international development partners as standard set by the CRC for the protection and promotion of the rights of children. The (CCWB) also coordinates and cooperates with the government and non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the provisions of the CRC. Further, the CCWB facilitates, monitors and evaluates child related interventions in the country. The CCWB has been contributing and ensuring the child rights in Nepal from the beginning of its establishment. According to the National Plan of Action (NPA) for Children-Nepal (2004/5-14/15 AD) the CCWB alongwith the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) has played its role in planning, implementation and monitoring process. Similarly, the district level offices and/or 1 Section 32 of the Children's Act 2048 B.S. (1992) STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 | 1 | committees of the MoWCSW and CCWB coordinate, collaborate, monitor and evaluate the district-level plans and programs, including implementation of their own programs2. As a part of its responsibility, the CCWB has been monitoring Child Care Homes (CCHs) from the beginning of its functionalization in general, and since early 2008 in particular. Though the family is the best place for healthy growth of children, the extended family could be the next best option for those children who have no own parents. In Nepal, many parentless children found kept in the CCHs. The Government of Nepal has policies and Standards for operation and Management of Residential Child Care Homes, 2012 to monitor and regulate the CCHs. These initiatives are aimed at ensuring rights of the child and uphold best interest of the child living in such institutions. In this respect, the government holds accountability to monitor the CCHs to ensure their operation as per the law, regulations and the guidelines. This report intends to share the status of the CCHs - facts and figures, problems, financial supports and progress. 1.2 Report Preparation Process In order to prepare this report, the information was collected during renewal process of the CCHs, monitoring reports of the CCWB and the DCWB, previous reports on the CCHs. Other reports related to the CCHs were reviewed. Sampling forms were developed for data collection with intention of updating information as well as to verify existing information at the CCWB. While developing the form, wider consultation was organized with the CCHs Monitoring Unit and concerned persons. After finalization of the forms, it was circulated to Child Right Officers (CROs) in District Child Welfare Board (DCWB) of concerned 46 districts. The CROs collected the information from the CCHs in the concerned districts. 2 NPA for Children (2004/5-14/15 AD), Chapter 7, p. 45 | 2 | STATE OF THE CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL, 2015 Chapter - Two CHILD CARE HOMES IN NEPAL 2.1 Description and Trend of the Child Care Homes The CCHs are formed to provide care, support, education, health services and security to the needy children especially ones who are not in parental care and vulnerable children.