Delhi Aftercare Scheme for Young Persons

What is the Delhi Aftercare Scheme for Young Persons?

Delhi Aftercare Scheme for Young Persons is a Government of NCT of Delhi programme that supports care leavers, the young people who have grown up in a children's home or other child care institution and must leave it on turning 18. The Department of Women and Child Development is the nodal department.

The problem the scheme addresses is narrow and real. A child living in a registered child care institution has food, shelter, schooling and supervision provided. On the day that person turns 18, the legal basis for staying in the institution ends. Many care leavers have no family to return to, no savings, no rent deposit and no work history. Aftercare is the bridge between institutional care and independent adult life.

According to the scheme information published for Delhi, the government has earmarked approximately Rs 3.5 crore for the financial year 2026-27, and expects 150 to 200 young persons a year to be covered. The scheme was announced in May 2026.

What the scheme is designed to provide

• A monthly stipend to meet basic living costs.
• Support to continue school, college or higher education.
• Vocational training and skill development placements.
• Internship and job placement facilitation.
• Career mentoring and guidance.
• Psychological counselling and emotional support.
• Emergency assistance in a crisis.
• An individual care plan prepared for each young person.

Where does aftercare come from in law?

Aftercare is not a discretionary favour. Section 46 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provides that any child leaving a child care institution on completing 18 years of age may be given financial or other support to help with reintegration into mainstream society, and the central Mission Vatsalya scheme carries aftercare as a component that states implement.

Delhi's scheme is the state-level expression of that obligation. The Act contemplates aftercare support up to 21 years of age, extendable in deserving cases where the young person needs more time to become self-reliant. The precise duration and stipend that Delhi will apply are matters for the department's guidelines, which were still awaited at the time of this check.

Who is eligible for the Delhi aftercare scheme?

A young person is covered if:

• They have completed 18 years of age.
• They were living in a registered child care institution in Delhi and are leaving it, or have recently left it, because of the age limit.
• Their case is on record with the Child Welfare Committee or the district child protection unit that placed them.
• They are willing to follow an individual care plan covering study, training or work.

A young person is not eligible if:

• They are under 18, in which case they remain a child in institutional care and aftercare does not arise.
• They were never in a registered child care institution in Delhi. Poverty or family breakdown alone does not create eligibility for aftercare; other Delhi social security schemes cover those situations.
• Their institutional record cannot be traced, so the child care institution cannot certify their stay.
• They are outside Delhi's jurisdiction, having been placed and released in another state.

A parent, relative or guardian cannot apply on their own initiative through a counter. The route runs through the institution and the district child protection machinery.

What documents are needed?

How to apply for the Delhi aftercare scheme

1. Raise the case inside the child care institution several months before the young person turns 18. The superintendent or the case worker is the person who initiates the aftercare file, and early notice matters because the individual care plan takes time to prepare.
2. Get the certificate of institutional care from the child care institution, confirming the period of stay and the date the young person completes 18 years.
3. Assemble the personal documents listed above, particularly the Aadhaar card, age proof and a bank account in the young person's own name. Opening the bank account early avoids the most common delay.
4. Place the case before the Child Welfare Committee or the district child protection unit, which verifies eligibility and records the individual care plan setting out education, training or employment goals.
5. Wait for sanction by the Department of Women and Child Development, after which the stipend and support components are released.
6. Follow the care plan and report progress as required, because continuation of support is linked to the young person staying in education, training or work.

At the time of this fact check, the department had not yet notified the detailed application procedure, and there was no online service for the scheme on the Delhi e-District portal. Institutions and applicants should watch wcd.delhi.gov.in for the guidelines and the opening of the process.

What is genuinely known and what is not

Being honest about the gaps matters more than filling them:

• Confirmed: the department, the target group, the budget order of magnitude for 2026-27, the expected annual coverage, and the categories of support the scheme is designed to deliver.
• Not yet published: the exact monthly stipend, the upper age limit Delhi will apply within the 21-year statutory ceiling, the form to be used, and the timeline for sanction.

Treat any specific stipend figure circulating on unofficial scheme aggregator sites with caution until the Delhi WCD Department publishes its circular.

Where to get help

• Department of Women and Child Development, GNCTD, Maharana Pratap ISBT Building, Kashmere Gate, Delhi-110006, phone 011-23070378 and 011-23380513.
• Childline 1098, the national helpline for children in distress, which can route a care leaver to the right district child protection unit.
• District Child Protection Unit of the district where the child care institution is located, for case-level follow-up.
• Child Welfare Committee of the district, which holds the original placement and release orders.

No fee is payable for aftercare support, and no institution or intermediary may charge a care leaver to have their name included.

How to check your application status

Because the Delhi Aftercare Scheme has no dedicated online portal or case-tracking number as of this check, status follow-up runs through people, not a dashboard. A care leaver or the institution supporting them can track a pending case in these ways:

• Ask the child care institution's case worker first. The institution originates the aftercare file and normally hears about sanction, queries or delays before the young person does, since correspondence from the Department of Women and Child Development goes to the institution's official address.
• Follow up with the Child Welfare Committee or district child protection unit that placed the case. These bodies hold the file after it leaves the institution and can confirm whether the individual care plan has been reviewed and forwarded for sanction.
• Call the Department of Women and Child Development directly on 011-23070378 or 011-23380513, quoting the young person's name, the child care institution, and the date the case was raised. Keep a written note of who you spoke to and when, since aftercare cases are still handled manually rather than through a ticketing system.
• Use Childline 1098 as a fallback route if the institution or district unit is unresponsive. Childline can escalate a stalled case to the right district child protection unit rather than track it directly.
• Watch wcd.delhi.gov.in for any office order or circular naming the applicant's institution, since sanctions for aftercare batches are sometimes announced institution-wise rather than communicated to each young person individually.

A care leaver should not assume silence means rejection. Given that the scheme's operating guidelines were still being finalised at the time of this check, delays in the weeks after a case is filed reflect the absence of a fixed processing timeline rather than a decision against the applicant. Persistent follow-up through the institution and the district child protection unit remains the only real way to move a stalled file forward until an online tracking facility, if any, is announced.

Common reasons for rejection or delay

Because aftercare is a case-managed benefit rather than a form-based one, most problems are procedural rather than about the young person's eligibility itself.

• Case raised too late. If the child care institution does not start the aftercare file until after the young person has already turned 18 and left, there is no active case for the Child Welfare Committee to review. Fix: institutions should open the file several months before the 18th birthday, not on the day itself.
• No traceable institutional record. If the child care institution cannot certify how long the young person actually stayed there, the Committee has no basis to confirm the young person passed through Delhi's child protection system. Fix: request the certificate of institutional care in writing as soon as the case is raised, and keep a copy independent of the institution's own file.
• Bank account not in the young person's own name. A stipend cannot be released into a parent's, guardian's or institution's account. Fix: open a single-holder savings account in the young person's own name and get it Aadhaar-seeded before the case reaches sanction stage.
• Missing or mismatched Aadhaar and age proof. Where the birth certificate, school record or CWC age-determination order does not match the Aadhaar details, the file gets sent back for correction rather than approved provisionally. Fix: reconcile the name and date of birth across all documents before submission, correcting Aadhaar first since it anchors the bank transfer.
• No individual care plan on file. Aftercare support is tied to a documented plan for education, training or employment, not a bare declaration of need. Fix: work with the case worker to record specific, realistic goals, since a vague or absent plan is a common reason the Committee sends a case back rather than forwards it for sanction.
• Case falls outside Delhi's jurisdiction. A young person placed and released from a child care institution in another state cannot be picked up by Delhi's aftercare mechanism merely because they later moved to Delhi. Fix: pursue aftercare through the state where the institutional record actually exists.
• Continuation support lapses from non-reporting. Where stipend or training support has started, failure to report progress against the care plan can pause further disbursement. Fix: maintain regular contact with the assigned case worker even after the first payment or placement comes through.

None of these outcomes involve a fee, and no institution or intermediary is authorised to charge a care leaver for filing, correcting or progressing a case.