Juvenile Justice Act: children in need of care and protection, the Child Welfare Committee and rehabilitation

1. Child in need of care and protection: section 2(14)

A child in need of care and protection is a child who, among others:

• is found without a home or settled place of abode and without means of subsistence;
• is found working in contravention of the Act or labour laws, or begging, or living on the street;
• lives with a person who has injured, exploited, abused or neglected him, or threatened to do so, or has done so to another child;
• is mentally ill, disabled or terminally ill with no one to support him, or has a parent found unfit or incapacitated;
• has no parents and no one willing to care for and protect him, or is abandoned or surrendered (substituted in 2021);
• is missing or a runaway, or whose parents cannot be found after reasonable inquiry;
• has been or is likely to be abused, tortured or exploited for sexual abuse or illegal acts, or drawn into drug abuse or trafficking;
• is a victim of armed conflict, civil unrest or natural calamity, or is at imminent risk of marriage before the lawful age.

Such a child has done no wrong. The Act’s response is care, not adjudication, and the authority is the Child Welfare Committee, not the Board.

2. Constitution of the Committee: section 27

• The State Government constitutes one or more Committees for every district by notification, and ensures induction training within two months.
• A Committee has a Chairperson and four other members, of whom at least one shall be a woman and another an expert on matters concerning children.
• Qualification (section 27(4), substituted in 2021): a degree in child psychology, psychiatry, law, social work, sociology, human health, education, human development or special education, with seven years of active work in child health, education or welfare; or a practising professional with such a degree.
• Disqualifications (section 27(4A), inserted in 2021): past violation of human or child rights; conviction involving moral turpitude; dismissal from government service; child abuse, child labour or immoral acts; or being part of the management of a child care institution in the district.
• No member is appointed for more than three years. A member is removed after inquiry for misuse of power, conviction for moral turpitude, or non-attendance.
• The District Child Protection Unit provides a secretary and staff.
• The Committee functions as a Bench with the powers of a Metropolitan Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate of First Class (section 27(9)).
• District Magistrate: the Committee reports to him and he conducts a quarterly review of its functioning (section 27(8)); he is the grievance redressal authority to whom the child or anyone connected may complain about the Committee (section 27(10)). Both were recast by the 2021 amendment.

3. Procedure and powers: sections 28 and 29

• The Committee meets at least twenty days a month; a visit to a child care institution counts as a sitting.
• A child may be produced before a single member for placement when the Committee is not sitting.
• The majority prevails, and the Chairperson’s opinion if there is no majority; at least three members must be present at final disposal.
• The Committee has authority to dispose of cases for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection, and exclusive power over all such proceedings in its area (section 29).

4. Functions: section 30

• taking cognizance of and receiving children produced before it, and taking suo motu cognizance of children not produced (by at least three members);
• inquiring into all issues affecting their safety and well-being, and directing a social investigation;
• declaring fit persons and directing placement in foster care;
• ensuring care, rehabilitation or restoration on the basis of an individual care plan, and selecting a registered institution suited to the child;
• at least two inspection visits a month of residential facilities;
• certifying a surrender deed by parents and giving them time to reconsider;
• restoring lost or abandoned children to their families, and declaring orphan, abandoned and surrendered children legally free for adoption;
• rehabilitating sexually abused children reported under the POCSO Act, 2012;
• dealing with cases referred by the Board, and inquiring into complaints of abuse in child care institutions.

5. Production, inquiry and orders: sections 31 to 38

• Any police officer, public servant, Childline, NGO, Child Welfare Officer, social worker, public-spirited citizen, doctor or nurse, or the child himself may produce the child within twenty-four hours (section 31).
• Anyone who finds an abandoned or lost child must report within twenty-four hours; failure is an offence punishable with up to six months or a fine of ten thousand rupees, or both (sections 32 to 34).
• A parent may surrender a child before the Committee and has two months to reconsider (section 35).
• The social investigation is completed within fifteen days and the final order passed within four months of first production (section 36). Children under six who are orphaned, surrendered or abandoned go to a Specialised Adoption Agency.
• Orders under section 37 include a declaration that the child is in need of care and protection; restoration to family; placement in a children’s home, fit facility, fit person or Specialised Adoption Agency; foster care and sponsorship orders; and a declaration that the child is legally free for adoption.

6. Rehabilitation and social re-integration: Chapter VII

Section 39 states the approach: rehabilitation is based on the child’s individual care plan, preferably through family-based care such as restoration to family, sponsorship, adoption or foster care, and siblings are kept together where possible. Institutional care is for children who cannot be placed in families. Children leaving care at eighteen may receive financial support.

• Restoration (section 40) to parents, adoptive or foster parents, guardian or fit person is the prime objective of every children’s home and open shelter.
• Registration (section 41): every institution housing children must be registered under the Act; running an unregistered one is punishable (section 42).
• Foster care (section 44), including group foster care, in an unrelated family selected for its ability and intent, with monthly inspection by the Committee.
• Sponsorship (section 45): supplementary support where the mother is a widow or abandoned, the parents are seriously ill or incapacitated, or orphans live with extended family.
• Aftercare (section 46): support for those leaving institutions at eighteen (aftercare is defined for ages eighteen to twenty-one, section 2(5)).
• Children’s homes (section 50), fit facilities (section 51) and fit persons (section 52).
• Services (section 53): food, shelter, clothing and medical care; education (with the Right to Education Act for ages six to fourteen); skill development; counselling; recreation; legal aid; birth registration and identity documents.
• Inspection (section 54) by committees, with reports to the District Magistrate after 2021, and adoption under Chapter VIII, with adoption orders now made by the District Magistrate (section 61 as amended).

In Sampurna Behura v. Union of India, 2018 INSC 125, (2018) 4 SCC 433, the Supreme Court found that States had failed to set up Committees, Boards, Special Juvenile Police Units and homes as the law required, and issued directions for implementation of the Act, stressing that these are rights of children and not matters of charity.

How this is examined

“Describe the provisions relating to constitution, powers and functions of Child Welfare Committee” was the 10-mark question in June 2025, and “Child Welfare Committee” a short note in January 2026 and August 2024. “Child in need of care and protection” was a short note in June 2025, and “rehabilitation and reintegration” a 10-mark essay in January 2026: for that, write section 39 and then each form of care in sections 40 to 55.