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| Wednesday, 19 January 2005 |
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by Nadira Gunatilleke There are around 350 orphaned children who had lost both their parents in the tsunami disaster. This number keeps increasing as the latest reports are received from the affected areas. At the moment the adoption of these children are out of the question while arrangements have been made to provide them with the necessary care and protection, Probation and Child Care Services Commissioner D. M. C. Abeygunawardena said. He said that adoption can be done only through the normal court procedure but it will not be considered in the near future. Harbouring tsunami victimised male and female children below the age of 20 is totally illegal and anyone who plan to raise the orphaned tsunami child victims are required to register with the Probation and Child Care Services Department, No.150 A, 2nd Floor, L.H.P.Building, Nawala Road, Nugegoda or with the Child Rights Promotion Officer attached to the nearest Divisional Secretariat. Keeping such children even by relatives is illegal, he added. Meanwhile the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) Coordinator to the Children's Desk of the Centre for National Operations (CNO) said the number of unaccompanied children in Welfare centres at present are 38.Children who are without parents residing in an institution or with a non-family carer are considered as unaccompanied children. The number of separated children is 858 and 3,202 children have lost one parent. Those children live either with their mother or father. Children with the extended family but without parents are considered as separated. Three hundred and sixty four displaced sites have been covered so far and another 18 such main sites remain to be covered. The above statistics are based on data collected on persons residing in displacement sites. Information regarding children already living with the community will be gathered in the coming weeks. The Children's Desk of the CNO had obtained the above information from the NCPA, the Department of Probation and Child Care Services, Save the Children in Sri Lanka, ILO and UNICEF. |
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