Shillong, April 18: Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi today asked state governments in the Northeast to form a committee on providing foster care to children with poor chances of adoption and address problems related to it.

Maneka, who was here for a regional conference on child adoption with ministers and officials of the social welfare department from the Northeast held at the state conventional centre, asked the state governments to remain more vigilant to prevent child trafficking.

Organised by the Central Adoption Resource Authority, an autonomous body under the ministry of women and child development, the conference dwelt at length on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and rules, as well as Adoption Guidelines, 2015, which provides for regulation of adoption of orphan, abandoned or surrendered children.

Stating that issues related to adoption of children was close to her heart, the Union minister said all activities in connection with adoption of children should be dealt with empathy.

Informing that the number of children adopted last year was 4,000, she, however, hoped that with the implementation of adoption guidelines, it would meet the target of adopting 35,000 to 40,000 children in a year.

She also advised the officials to maintain proper records of the adopted children, including their biological parents, and assured that exceptions would be incorporated in the adoption rules to give preference to local choice, which will be according to their culture, customs and traditions.

Deliberating at length on the issues related to adoption of children, she also asked state governments in the region to form a committee on foster care to help the children with poor chances of getting adopted.

Children, especially victims of sexual or physical abuse or violence, abandoned children whose parents are suffering from terminal illnesses or mental disability, impoverished or in prison, can be put in foster homes that will provide community and family care.

The guidelines also offer financial support up to Rs 2,000 a month to families who opt for foster care of children.

Pointing out problems faced during the process of adopting children, especially when the matter is in court and during the conduct of home study, the minister said judges should understand the issue properly and pass an order at the earliest while home study should have complete details of the biological parents, including medical report of the children to be adopted.

Terming trafficking of children from the Northeast a "serious problem", the minister said children in the region were often found in south Indian states and even sent to Malaysia.

Maneka stressed the need to have women police officers who can keep an eye on villages that are vulnerable to trafficking.

Describing trains as the means of transport for traffickers, she announced a slew of preventive measures - like putting up posters and helpline numbers on trains, launching of panic button called "e-button" on mobile phones, launching of a website, khoyapaya.gov.in, to help people share information related to missing children or tracing missing children by uploading their pictures on the website.

Moreover, she said another programme - Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (Step) - was launched to provide skills that give employability to women and provide competencies and skills that enable them to become self-employed/entrepreneurs.

She also said the ministry has launched a web portal, "Mahila e-haat", to promote women entrepreneurs in the country and allow them to sell their products online without any extra costs by partnering with Amazon, Flipkart, and Shopclue.

On the high mortality rate of women and children, the minister underlined the need to improve infrastructure for institutional delivery to address the problem.