Delhi government is formulating guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to expedite the process of restoring missing children back to their families in the shortest possible time.
"The SOPs once finalized would be shared in a state level seminar involving representatives from all stakeholders," said Satbir Bedi, Principal Secretary, Social Welfare and Woman and Child Development department.
Further, a mechanism for regular monitoring and supervision is also being developed to ensure strict compliance of the guidelines.
Since the issues of 'missing children' and 'found children' are inherently related and require concerted efforts on part of Police Department as well as WCD Department, there is a need of collaboration with the police network.
In this regard, Bedi met Joint Commissioner of Police (Nodal Officer nominated for WCD) Robin Hibu and the Commissioner of Police on August 26 and 28 respectively.
This work becomes even more pertinent in the light of the statistics of missing children in India and Delhi, said Bedi.
In India, over 44,000 children go missing every year and almost 40 per cent of these children remain untraced.
