Q WHAT IS THE STATUS OF SRI LANKA’S INSTITUTIONS? DO YOU FEEL THAT THEY NEED MORE IMPROVEMENT?

If you mean government managed/ run Child Care Institutions, I am unable to discuss the status of the same. However, yes I do feel they may be in need of improvements in terms of staff trained in Child Protection or at least training programmes for the existing staff of the Child Care Institutions. It is also important for the public to note that the allocation of funds for Child Care is minimal compared to the rest of the activities. This roots down to the major challenge of underresourced, ill-motivated Child Care Actors. In such a sense, one cannot expect them to be on their most efficient work standards. This is why such grassroot level officers such as, the Probation Officers, the Police Women and Children’s Bureau Officers, the Officers at the District Secretariat on Women and Children, need to have more resources both with material resources like vehicles, printers, computers, phones, phone allowances, stationery, more pay etc. but also with training resources on mental health awareness, self-empowerment, sensitization of child related matters, laws relating to children, international standards of Child Protection and so on.

If we as a State want to improve our Child Protection Systems one of the key missions we could do is to empower our grassroot level State Actors.

With regard to Safe Houses for women with children, there are only a few State run homes and few run by Civil Society Organization. With the spike in the rate of Domestic Violence in the past 2 years, society is in great need of more Safe Houses for Women and Children who suffer trauma through Domestic Violence.