PREFACE Maharashtra is the second most populous state in the country, with Mumbai Suburban district having the highest density of population. While the pace of urbanization in a city bursting at its seams has been gaining momentous acceleration, there remain significant milestones to be achieved in ensuring that benefits of the development agenda reach those who need it most. Amongst those most vulnerable are the children with limited or no access to the welfare opportunities the state provides. While the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) provides extensive scope for various child protection services, one of its mandate is also to coordinate and network with government institutions and non-government institutions to ensure effective implementation of the scheme. In June 2017, Leher in partnership with AIILSG was given the opportunity by UNICEF to conduct this study in the Mumbai Suburban district in Maharashtra. The enduring purpose of the study is to identify the gaps in the child protection efforts in the district and to help bridge them through a constructive analysis resulting in recommendations to be implemented. The study was conducted across three tehsils in the Mumbai Suburban district to identify and probe issues of child protection, efficiency of, and awareness regarding established child protection mechanisms and social protection schemes which have an impact on the development and growth of children. The study explores at length twenty- two child protection issues across 10 habitations in each of the 3 tehsils chosen as sample for the study. The respondents for the study included four groups - children 11-14 years, children 15-18 years, adults (mixed group across age, and gender) and duty bearers (AWW, teacher, USHA). At the tehsil level IDIs were conducted with tehsil level officials which included: CDPO, Probation Officer WCD, Education Dept, CWC, JJB, Administrative officer (ward), Tahsildar, and labor department officer. While due to the dual constraints of time and resources the sample size was limited to three tehsils of the district, one can safely argue that the issues which have surfaced during the study are representative of the district. This study would have been all but possible without the support and enthusiasm of many individuals. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the District Administration of the Mumbai Suburban district, with the District Collector at its helm, for their cooperation since the inception of the study. We are thankful to UNICEF represented by Alpa Vora, Child Protection Specialist, Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, Chief, UNICEF Maharashtra Field Office, Santosh Shinde and Yamini Suvarna for anchoring, advising, strategizing, communicating and supporting the team at every stage to ensure the research was completed in time and effectively. We especially acknowledge the role and support of the duty bearers in the child protection system in the district. The study is richer because of the insights from the tehsil interviews conducted with Subhas Kakade, Tehsildar Andheri; Santosh Chavan, Assistant Education Officer (Andheri & Borivali); Sudhir Patil, CDPO (Andheri) ; Mr. Sudhir More, Probation Officer(Kurla); Pratibha Ovhal, District Probation Officer,(Mumbai Suburban District); Ajitkumar Ambi, Ward Officer (Andheri); Aruna Kakade, District Child Protection Officer (Mumbai Suburban District); Sharda Talreja, CWC Chairperson and Shyam Gorad, CWC member, Mumbai Suburban District; J.V. Pekhale Purkar, JJB Chairperson, Mumbai Suburban District and Nissar Khan Administrative Officer (Andheri). We are grateful for deeply insightful and engaging perspective interviews on some diverse child protection issues from experts in the field. For them, we thank you Akshai Abraham, Dr. Armida Fernandez, Pankaj Joshi, Prachi Khandeparkar, Rajkumar and Raju Bhise. We are immensely thankful to Vallabhdas Dagara Indian Society and Disha Foundation for assisting in the process of arranging FGDs and IDIs with children with disabilities and children in red light areas respectively which has added valuable insights to the study. We are grateful for the effective partnership between our organizations and teams at AIILSG, AIILSG’s International Centre for Equi-T and Leher, anchored and facilitated by UNICEF Field Office of Maharashtra and we look forward to working together more closely in the future. And savoring the deepest acknowledgement for last, thank you, all the children who spoke to us with patience and hope about the most beautiful and vulnerable aspects of your lives. Yours sincerely, Devasmita Kajol Menon Prof. Dr. Mukesh Kanaskar Director, Leher Deputy Director General, AIILSG INTRODUCTION The State Government of Maharashtra and UNICEF have been working in partnership towards strengthening implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of children) Act and other important child protection legislations. The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, provides an implementation framework for provisions of child protection laws. The ICPS provides a continuum of structures, services, and mechanisms for the protection of children. It promotes a collaborative approach between the State, communities, and civil society organizations towards realization of a protective environment in which children thrive. It calls for every district to have a district child protection plan based on a detailed district need assessment study which will inform actions for child protection at the district level. The Department of Women and Child Development and UNICEF invited Leher to provide technical guidance for the District Needs Assessment for three districts of Maharashtra, starting with Mumbai Sub-urban. The purpose of this partnership was to build capacity of resource organizations to support the DWCD in conducting quality district need assessment studies that would inform child protection plans across districts of the State. We are thankful to Leher for contributing its child protection expertise particularly in the area of strengthening the preventive approach and developing a very robust methodology to undertake this child protection needs assessment incorporating ICPS guidelines with support from UNICEF. The study was conducted by the International Centre for EQUI-T (IC EQUI-T) of the All India Institute of Local Self Governance (AIILSG) with capacity building and technical support from Leher. The IC EQUI-T as a special institution that focuses on equity, inclusion and poverty alleviation and AIILSG as a premier national organization with expertise on urban governance, capacity building, research and education have a significant contribution to make for strengthening child protection in Maharashtra. This need assessment study for the district of Mumbai Suburban was facilitated by the Office of the Collector Mumbai Suburban who is the Chairperson of the District Child Protection Committee (DCPC) under the ICPS. It commenced in August 2017 with support from the District DWCD Office of Mumbai Suburban. This multi- layered district study presents an insightful picture of the status of protection of children in suburban Mumbai. The study has drawn the attention of stakeholders including children, communities and duty bearers across the district into discussion. It is positive to note that the DCPC under the leadership of Mr. Sachin Kurve, Collector, Mumbai Suburban will review the findings of this study to incorporate them into the district plan and identify actions to bring changes in the lives of children of Mumbai Suburban. We thank the research teams led by Leher and AIISLG, the district administration, community members and children who participated to make this study meaningful. Rajeshwari Chandrasekar Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Maharashtra TABLE OF CONTENTS CREDITS ....................................................................................................................................................... FOREWORD ................................................................................................................................................. PREFACE ..................................................................................................................................................... INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS ..................................................................................................... 1 OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................................. 7 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 21 FINDINGS .............................................................................................................................................. 27 1. Perception of issues that affect protection of children ..................................................................... 28 2. Risk and threats to children in their environment .............................................................................. 44 3. Habitation level Committees ................................................................................................................. 52 4. Awareness level on child protection mechanisms across select tehsils, Mumbai suburban