Bhubaneswar: The state government has asked all district collectors to ensure the safety and security of inmates at Child Care Institutions and shelter homes in Odisha through physical inspections by their officers or respective Child Welfare Committees.
"Child Welfare Committee members are being trained at the National Law University Odisha in Cuttack on their role and responsibility with focus on safety and security of children, girls and women at Child Care Institutions and shelter homes. Training of two batches has been over," said women and child development minister Prafulla Samal.
Department officials are also making visits to these institutions apart from inspections by the District Inspection Committees headed by additional district magistrates.
The collectors have also been requested to collect intelligence about activities at the homes through the respective superintendents of police. All districts will create awareness on the toll free women's helpline (181) and Childline (1098) so that inmates can seek help during distress.
NGOs running shelter homes attended a sensitisation workshop from August 23 to 25 to discuss the inmates' safety measures, scheme guidelines, standards of care, their role as service providers, licensing of homes and capacity building of staff members.
All organisation heads were asked to ensure safety and security of inmates, install CCTV cameras at entrances, disallow entry of males, and paint important numbers (such as 181, 1098) on the premises.
"A similar sensitisation drive has been planned with organisation heads of all childcare institutions," said Samal.
In a related development, the Association of Radio Operators in India, All-India Radio and Unicef organised a three-day regional workshop on public health and child sexual abuse for prevention of violence against children to build skills of radio participants on nuances of handling sensitive issues related to child sexual abuse.
Child protection professionals along with those from the government, police and the judiciary spoke to them.
