Sponsorship Scheme (90% Centrally Funded)

What is the Sponsorship Scheme (90% Centrally Funded)?

Sponsorship Scheme is a child-protection programme under Mission Vatsalya that gives financial support to families so that vulnerable children can stay within a family instead of being placed in an institution. According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Mission Vatsalya provides a monthly grant of Rs 4,000 per child for family-based non-institutional care, which includes sponsorship, foster care and after-care.

In Uttarakhand the scheme is run by the Department of Women Empowerment and Child Development through the District Child Protection Units. It is called "90% Centrally Funded" because, for Uttarakhand and other Himalayan states, Mission Vatsalya is funded on a 90:10 basis, the Centre pays 90% of the cost and the state pays 10%.

The core idea is family-based care. Rather than sending a child who has lost a parent or comes from a very poor household into a child care institution, the scheme pays the family or guardian Rs 4,000 a month so the child can continue to live at home, stay in school and be cared for. Sponsorship is provided on the recommendation of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the approval of the Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee (SFCAC).

Who is eligible for the Sponsorship Scheme?

A child can be sponsored if:

• The child is below 18 years of age.
• The child is vulnerable. An orphan, an abandoned or surrendered child, a child who has lost one or both parents, a child of a single parent, or a child from a very low-income family.
• The family income is within the Mission Vatsalya ceiling — up to Rs 72,000 a year in rural areas and Rs 96,000 a year in urban areas.
• The child is a resident of Uttarakhand and the case is recommended by the Child Welfare Committee.

A child is not eligible / cannot be sponsored if:

• The child is 18 years or older (though after-care support has its own provisions).
• The family income is above the rural or urban ceiling.
• The case is not recommended by the Child Welfare Committee after assessment.

The Child Welfare Committee assessment is central: it looks at the child's circumstances and decides whether family-based sponsorship is the right form of care and protection.

How much benefit does the Sponsorship Scheme provide?

The scheme pays Rs 4,000 per month per child. The grant is transferred to the guardian's bank account and is meant to cover the child's food, education, health and general upbringing within the family. The duration of sponsorship can extend up to the child's 18th birthday, subject to periodic review of the family's circumstances.

Because the support is family-based and non-institutional, it is designed to keep a child out of a children's home and within a caring family environment. The amount is a defined monthly grant, not a variable or lump-sum benefit.

What documents are required?

The income certificate and the age proof are the two documents most closely scrutinised, because they establish the two headline eligibility conditions.

How to apply for the Sponsorship Scheme

1. Approach the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) in your district, or the Child Welfare Committee, and state that you are caring for a vulnerable child.
2. Submit the application with the child's age proof, income certificate, residence proof, the death certificate of a parent where relevant, and the guardian's bank details.
3. Attend the Child Welfare Committee assessment, where the committee reviews the child's circumstances and recommends the sponsorship.
4. Approval by the Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committee follows the CWC recommendation.
5. Receive the monthly grant of Rs 4,000 in the guardian's bank account once the sponsorship is sanctioned.

Because a statutory committee assesses each case, the process is not a simple form submission. The aim is to make sure sponsorship genuinely serves the child's best interest.

How can you check status or get help?

The District Child Protection Unit is the point of contact to check the status of a sponsorship case. For any child in distress, the national child helpline 1098 operates round the clock and connects to the child protection system. For department information, use wecd.uk.gov.in.

Common reasons a case is not sanctioned

• Family income above the ceiling for rural or urban areas.
• Age proof missing, so the child's eligibility cannot be confirmed.
• No Child Welfare Committee recommendation, which is mandatory.
• Residence not established in Uttarakhand.
• Incomplete guardian bank details, so the grant cannot be transferred.

A case that is not sanctioned can be reconsidered once the missing document is provided or the family's circumstances are reassessed by the committee.

How is sponsorship different from foster care and after-care?

Mission Vatsalya funds three related forms of family-based, non-institutional care, and it helps to know where sponsorship sits among them. Sponsorship is financial support to a child's own family or extended family (kinship) so the child can remain at home; the Rs 4,000 monthly grant supports the child's food, education and health. Foster care places a child with a family other than their own for a period, again with support. After-care helps a young person who is leaving institutional care at 18 to become independent. All three are paid at the Rs 4,000-per-child monthly rate under Mission Vatsalya's non-institutional care component.

The scheme's guiding principle is that a child grows best in a family. Sponsorship is therefore preferred over sending a vulnerable child to a children's home whenever the family can care for the child with a little financial help. This is why the Child Welfare Committee assessment focuses on whether family-based care is workable in each case.

How long does the support last and how is it reviewed?

Sponsorship support can continue up to the child's 18th birthday, but it is not automatic year after year. The circumstances of the family are reviewed periodically, and the support continues as long as the child remains eligible and the family still needs the assistance. If the family's income rises above the ceiling or the child's situation changes, the sponsorship can be revised or stopped at review.

Guardians should keep the child's school enrolment and health records up to date, because continued education is one of the outcomes the scheme is meant to protect. Keeping these records ready also makes each review smoother and reduces the risk of the monthly grant being interrupted.

Where do you raise a grievance?

Raise a grievance with the District Child Protection Unit first. Child-specific concerns can be reported to the Child Welfare Committee or the child helpline 1098. At the state level, escalate to the Directorate of Women Empowerment and Child Development, Uttarakhand through wecd.uk.gov.in. The sponsorship grant is a government benefit and no one should charge a family a fee to arrange it.