Mission Vatsalya

What is Mission Vatsalya?

Mission Vatsalya is the Ministry of Women and Child Development's umbrella scheme for the protection and welfare of children. According to the Ministry, Mission Vatsalya was launched in 2021-22, subsuming the earlier Child Protection Services scheme, itself the renamed Integrated Child Protection Scheme. Mission Vatsalya provides the money and the staffing that make the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 work on the ground.

Mission Vatsalya is a Centrally Sponsored scheme. The Centre and states with a legislature share the cost in a 60:40 ratio; for the North Eastern and Himalayan states and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir the ratio is 90:10; and union territories without a legislature are funded 100 per cent by the Centre. Child Helpline 1098 is funded entirely by the Government of India.

Two groups of children fall within the scheme:

• Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP), orphaned, abandoned or surrendered children, children of parents unable to care for them, children at risk of trafficking, child labour, child marriage or abuse, and children living on the street.
• Children in Conflict with Law (CCL); children alleged or found to have committed an offence, who are dealt with by Juvenile Justice Boards rather than the ordinary criminal courts.

What does Mission Vatsalya provide?

Mission Vatsalya works through two broad kinds of care.

Non-institutional care keeps a child in a family setting, which the Juvenile Justice Act treats as the preferred option.

• Sponsorship, a monthly grant to a child living with their own family or extended family, so that poverty alone does not force the child into an institution.
• Foster care, placement with an unrelated family that has been assessed and approved, with a monthly grant.
• Aftercare: support for a young person leaving a Child Care Institution on turning 18, to help them study, train and become independent.
• Adoption; through Specialised Adoption Agencies, State Adoption Resource Agencies and the Central Adoption Resource Authority.

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, a grant of Rs 4,000 per month per child is provided for sponsorship, foster care or aftercare — Rs 48,000 a year; released to the state government, which then transfers it to the child's account.

Institutional care is the fallback when family-based care is not possible. Mission Vatsalya funds Child Care Institutions (CCIs), including open shelters, children's homes, observation homes, special homes, places of safety and Specialised Adoption Agencies. According to Press Information Bureau releases, programmes inside these homes include age-appropriate education, vocational training, recreation, health care and counselling.

Statutory bodies and services funded under the scheme include Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in every district, Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), District Child Protection Units (DCPUs), State Child Protection Societies, and Child Helpline 1098, which is being integrated with the Ministry of Home Affairs' ERSS-112 emergency number.

Who is eligible for Mission Vatsalya support?

A child can be supported if:

• The child is a Child in Need of Care and Protection as defined in Section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, or a Child in Conflict with Law.
• The child is below 18 years of age. Aftercare extends support to young adults leaving institutional care after 18, generally up to 21 and in some states up to 23.
• For sponsorship, the child lives with their own family or extended family and that family's income is within the ceiling fixed by the state government. Typical qualifying circumstances are the death of one or both parents, a single parent unable to earn, serious illness or disability of a parent, a parent in prison, or the child being at risk of dropping out of school, child marriage or trafficking.
• For foster care, a fit family has been assessed and approved by the district committee.

Who cannot apply or is not eligible:

• A child who is not a child in need of care and protection under the Juvenile Justice Act is not eligible, however deserving the case may feel. Mission Vatsalya is a child protection scheme, not a general poverty programme.
• Families cannot apply directly to the Ministry of Women and Child Development in Delhi. Every case is decided at the district level.
• No sponsorship, foster care or aftercare grant is sanctioned without an order of the Child Welfare Committee or approval of the district Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee (SFCAC). There is no route around this committee, and anyone offering one is not acting for the scheme.
• Adults seeking a personal income benefit cannot apply. The grant belongs to the child.

How to apply for Mission Vatsalya sponsorship or foster care

1. Contact your District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), which normally sits in the district collectorate, or call Child Helpline 1098 and ask to be put in touch with the DCPU. In an emergency involving a child, 1098 is the first number to call.
2. Submit a written application for sponsorship, foster care or aftercare, describing the child's circumstances. The DCPU provides the format; there is no national online form.
3. Attach the supporting documents, the child's age proof, Aadhaar of the child and caregiver, income certificate, death certificate of the parent where relevant, and the school bonafide certificate.
4. Allow the DCPU social worker to complete a home study and social investigation report. This visit is part of the process, not an obstacle to it, and the report is what the committee actually decides on.
5. Attend the Child Welfare Committee hearing if the child is produced before it, or the Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee meeting, and answer its questions.
6. On approval, open or verify a joint bank account of the child with the caregiver, seeded with Aadhaar, so that the Rs 4,000 monthly grant can be transferred by DBT.
7. Submit the periodic review documents the DCPU asks for; usually school attendance and a progress report: because sponsorship is renewed on review, not granted permanently in one order.

For adoption, the route is different: prospective adoptive parents register on the CARINGS portal at cara.wcd.gov.in run by the Central Adoption Resource Authority, complete a home study through a Specialised Adoption Agency, and are referred children in seniority order.

Mission Vatsalya, Mission Shakti and PM CARES for Children

These three are frequently mixed up.

• Mission Vatsalya covers children; protection, sponsorship, foster care, aftercare, adoption, Child Helpline 1098.
• Mission Shakti covers women, One Stop Centres, the 181 Women Helpline, Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Palna and maternity benefit, through its Sambal and Samarthya sub-schemes.
• PM CARES for Children is a separate, closed-cohort scheme for children who lost their parents to COVID-19; children enrolled under it also receive the Rs 4,000 monthly support under Mission Vatsalya until they turn 18.

Help and grievance redressal

• Child Helpline: 1098, toll-free, round the clock
• Emergency Response Support System: 112
• District Child Protection Unit at your district collectorate for sponsorship, foster care and aftercare
• Child Welfare Committee of your district for orders concerning a child
• Central Adoption Resource Authority at cara.wcd.gov.in for adoption
• Ministry of Women and Child Development at wcd.gov.in for scheme information

Every service under Mission Vatsalya is free. No fee is payable to any officer, committee member or agency for sponsorship, foster care, aftercare or adoption, and paying money for a child in any form is a criminal offence.