India, Feb. 12 -- Lack of awareness involving village-level child protection committees, non-availability of frontline workers dedicated to child protection hindering uptake of foster care

Parental care plays a significant role in the safety, security, development and well-being of the children. However, millions of children are unfortunately deprived of this opportunity due to obvious reasons. An estimate says that over 140 million children globally are experiencing the loss of one or both parents. In South Asia, India has the largest number of orphaned and vulnerable children.

Around 39 per cent of the country's population - 472 million - are children below the age of 18 years, according to Census 2011. India has 29 million orphaned c...