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Sri Lanka Army

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Nearly 30,000 Children Under 18 in Welfare Villages

THERE are nearly 30,000 children under the age of 18 staying in welfare villages and transit centres. Around 850 have lost one or both parents. 

The Probation and Child Care Services Department and Provincial Departments hold the responsibility of caring for those children, Probation and Child Care Services Commissioner D.M.S. Abeygunawardana told the Daily News yesterday. Abeygunawardana said these children are staying in welfare villages and transit camps with their relatives. 

The Department identified the children living among IDPs with the assistance of Probation and Child Care Services Department, Vavuniya branch and arrangements will be made to register all children and gather data on them. Counselling has been provided for them, Abeygunawardana said.
 
According to Abeygunawardana these children will not be separated from their relatives because those children need guardians and they are safe with them. 

At a later stage, the Department will identify the `able persons’ (from the relatives whom the children live with) and give them away to them legally. The number of children who have lost one or both parents can increase when the final count is made. 

Arrangements have been made to develop a location at Vavuniya as a state run children’s home to accommodate around 350 children who had been rescued from two children’s homes at Kilinochchi and Vavuniya. They will be given professional counselling, he said. 

The Department has already provided 5,000 school books and Rs. 100,000, worth school and educational equipment to the children in welfare villages and transit camps, he added. (Courtesy: Daily News)