Women and Child Development Ministry is formulating guidelines for children's hostels, prescribing the minimum standards of care that should be provided to children. <br />''<br />''This comes in the wake of institutions, housing children on the request of parents who are unable to take care of them and their education or due to other circumstances which force parents to keep them at children's homes, not registering under the Juvenile Justice Act. <br />''<br />''Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said, children staying at hostels, including those attached to schools, are as vulnerable as children at any other facility like child-care institutions and day-care centres. <br />''<br />''<br />''She said, the Ministry has decided to formulate a set of guidelines to ensure adequate safety, minimum standard of living conditions and periodic inspections at hostels. <br />''<br />''She said, the Ministry has directed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to draft the guidelines in consultation with stakeholders concerned.<br />''<br />''An official release said, the Ministry had notified all states and Union territories to undertake inspection of all child-care institutions and related facilities and to ensure their registration. <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">It said, that registration under the Juvenile Justice Act is also mandatory for all child-care institutions running in the form of hostels.</span><br />