more-in The Directorate of Social Defence (DSD) has decided to engage psychologists to provide counselling services to children in distress in government homes. The appointees would be paid an honorarium of ?1,000 per visit per week to the homes for a total of not more than 60 visits. Applications for the post of counsellor at the home in Chengalpattu are invited on or before January 25. Counselling services were of vital importance to children at the homes as many of them ended up taking up crime due to the circumstances they were in, sources said. In 2004-05, the State government approved a proposal mooted by the DSD to engage NGOs and academic institutions for imparting counselling to the inhabitants of the homes functioning in five districts on consolidated pay. In 2016, the DSD convinced the State government to create 32 posts of District Child Protection Officers (DCPO) to ensure home superintendents and probation officers were not overburdened. The DCPO is responsible for programme development based on need assessment, coordination with stakeholders and implementation of programmes, besides ensuring the smooth functioning of the district unitto address all child related issues with an aim of child protection envisaged by the Juvenile Justice Act.

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