Deaddiction Centers for Children

The State Welfare Organization plans to set up deaddiction centers for addicted street and labor children under the age of 18 in various parts of the country. “The first of these, which would primarily target children with negligent or abusive parents, will be set up in Alborz Province, followed by South Khorasan and Tehran,” said Majid Rezazadeh, head of SWO’s Addiction Prevention Center. The project was piloted last year in Sistan-Baluchistan Province in two separate centers for girls and boys, where nearly 110 children under the age of 18 were provided treatment. “The children will be offered counseling and therapy once they are treated, and can be referred to centers for life skills and vocational training,” Rezazadeh said. “They will be returned to the family only if their parents/guardians are found qualified to take care of the children by the pertinent authorities.”