The Ministry of Women and Child Development has developed a reader titled “Raising Happy Children and Providing Safe Childhoods”. It provides advisory guidelines to parents, teachers and community to protect children from being involved in delinquent behaviour through early detection, counselling and positive engagement. It draws upon basic principles laid down in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 which provides a strong formal framework for dealing with children in conflict with the law throughout the criminal justice process.
Young children experience their world through their relationships with parents, teachers, peers and other caregivers. Therefore, there is a need to create a warm, loving and nurturing environment where their physical, emotional and spiritual needs are recognized and honored by their family, school and community so as to allow them to reach their full potential.
Keeping the above in mind, the reader draws upon good practices across the world which have proved to be successful in keeping children safe and away from delinquent behavior. Every child is different and deserves support that is specifically tailored to their own needs and circumstances. The reader suggests a broad framework for imbibing positive skills such as conflict resolution and violence prevention to keep them protected and help them achieve their full potential.
The reader is divided into three parts wherein part-I is for parents and what they can do to prevent violence and crimes by children, followed by part-II and III for teachers and community members respectively. Each part briefly discusses few major problems that can push children on the wrong side of law, the early signs of this, what can be done to strengthen protection or intervene to reduce risks.