All child-care homes in North to be registered

by Dhaneshi YATAWARA

The Northern Province Governor's office will register and monitor all child-care homes in the Northern Province run by various institutions. "We have already started identifying unregistered child-care homes in the province in direct collaboration with the Ministry of Child Development".

"We have already started discussions. These homes will be registered soon under Government regulations," Northern Province Governor Major General G.A. Chandrasiri said.

With the end of the conflict many child-care homes were set up by different organisations all over the Northern Province. "The Government needs to closely monitor these homes for the children's safety," Chandrasiri said. Eleven institutions were found to be unregistered in Vavuniya.

According to the Governor, nearly 4,000 children are being sheltered in these homes. "Many of these children are either orphans or come from single parent families. Some children have both parents but the families are too poor to look after the children properly. "We are monitoring whether these children are properly treated according to their background and to ensure that the children who have parents get a chance to meet their parents at the child-care home," Maj.Gen. Chandrasiri said.

Children have a chance of returning to their families when the parents could take care of them properly.