CARA to create pool of child care specialists

The country's apex child adoption body is for the first time getting ready to create a new pool of child care specialists.
A need was felt to infuse new blood in the central adoption resource authority (CARA) as the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection), 2015, brought in new rules and processes in the adoption system.
"While, we have had interns here on and off, we have never done this in an organised manner like we are doing now," said CARA chairperson Deepak Kumar.
CARA has decided to bring in interns, who are interested in social service or are planning to pursue it as a career to train with it, he said.

"We need people who study social services to know how the adoption system works because here, at every level, there is a need for welfare officers to be involved with children. Training people is a move towards capacity building," Kumar said.
The interns will be trained to conduct home studies of prospective adoptive parents, research and documentation on post-adoption status of children, develop standards and modules related to the adoption procedure, quality childcare standards and on monitoring and supervision, among other aspects of child care.

CARA has called for applications from institutions as well as individuals and categorised its requirements under two heads - unpaid internships for students who have completed Class XII or are pursuing graduation and paid research students.

The paid interns, who will get Rs 10,000 per month, should be research scholars and post-graduate students pursuing a master's degree in social work, sociology, psychology, management, law and social sciences.
"The plan is to get five interns per quarter and to place them in different departments," said Kumar.
The move to create such a pool of experts in child protection and child care is to ensure that the new generation of social workers is in tune with the new laws and policies laid down by the government and aid in their smooth implementation.