Consultative workshop: Care mechanisms for kids deliberated

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Social Welfare Syed Qasim Ali Shah on Monday said that the provincial government was taking pragmatic steps to protect children’s rights and establishing child protection units across the province.

He was addressing a two-day consultative workshop on strengthening the alternative care system for children without parental care in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organized by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Commission (KPCPWC) in collaboration with UNICEF.

He acknowledged UNICEF’s contributions and appreciated all key stakeholders for holding a very successful workshop and reaching a consensus to further understand the issues of children without parental care from the policy and reform perspective.

The minister emphasized the significance of establishing a monitoring mechanism for children in alternative care, committed to supporting the policy reforms needed in this area and suggested receiving a roadmap with clear timelines to further the discussion and dialogue with the government on this for policy-based solutions. He said the provincial government was committed to expanding the network of Child Protection Units to all districts across KP.

The workshop brought together relevant stakeholders to deliberate on the existing landscape of alternative care mechanisms and services for children without parental care and build consensus on a reform agenda and recommendations to the government for regulating such alternative care services in the province.

These stakeholders included both government and non-governmental organizations including representatives from Madaris currently providing care, shelter and guardianship services to children in the province.

The workshop commenced with a welcome from Ijaz Muhammad Khan, Deputy Chief of KP-CPWC. He emphasized the importance of discussion on alternative care for children without parental care, as a social problem demanding policy solutions in the province.

He delivered a detailed presentation on the legal framework that currently exists in Pakistan and KP in relation to the alternative care of children and the lack of proper regulation and oversight over such mechanisms and services operational in the province. Sharing from the actual child protection cases regularly reported to the Child Protection Helpline 1121 and 21 District Child Protection Units currently functional in the province, he educated the forum on the increasing number of cases of abandoned children reported to them as well as children on the streets, children of foreign origin and other provinces in need of family reunification and suitable alternative care.

Sohail Ahmad, Child Protection Specialist in UNICEF outlined key focus areas specific to children without parental care in the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and global standards and norms.

Syed Nazar Hussain Shah, Secretary of the Social Welfare, Special Education and Women Empowerment Department, KP committed to taking steps toward improving alternative childcare services, including establishing a committee for childcare institutions to review and finalize the draft Child Protection Policy.