Family counselling centres in Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

This is a preliminary research work to comprehend the perceptions of different categories of people who availed the services of and also know about the Family Counselling Centres (FCCs) functioning presently in the 48 districts of Madhya Pradesh, i.e., the victims, counsellors, police and the community at large. With its exploratory and qualitative nature the study looks at how FCCs fared in 2005, 2006and up to October 2007.There was no doubt, however, that the FCCs have been of some help to the distressed women - but by how much was a big question. This work attempts to tell how the users of FCCs' services perceived them, after all. The basic aim was to know their effectiveness. The hypothesis: married women acknowledge that family counselling centres are effective in solving their problems. Primary data from 16 representative districts was collected for the project. Personal interviews in structured schedules of 500 women victims, 200 counsellers, 200 police officers and some 100 public personalities were taken. Secondary data was collected in the form of documents/records, activity-sheets, program files, observation dairies ,etc. Literature available from Maharashtra and other states was also incorporated. The results show that all the four categories above saying FCCs to be useful and effective in their activities. About 65 per cent of women victims felt and agreed FCCs being capable of solving their problems pertaining to violence perpetrated against them. Majority of the counsellors opined that FCCs are effective. As far as public perception is concerned, 42 per cent have spoken out that FCCs are better in solving problems related to families. This shows the relevance of the FCCs' existence. At the end, all categories of people interviewed in this survey perceived FCCs to be useful and effective. The hypothesis that married women feel that the centres are effective in solving their problems has been vindicated with the attendant limitations that always go with this kind of a study.