CRC/C/15/Add.137 page 7 children. Special emphasis should be placed on the registration of children belonging to the most vulnerable groups, including children living in areas affected by the armed conflict and in camps for internally displaced groups. Freedom from torture 38. In the light of its recommendation (see CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 17) concerning the need to conduct special investigations in cases of gross violations of human rights involving children, the Committee regrets the lack of follow-up information on this issue and reiterates its concern about alleged cases of street children tortured and ill-treated by members of the police and/or paramilitary groups. 39. The Committee urges the State party to undertake effective measures to ensure that such acts receive an appropriate response through the judicial process, in order to avoid impunity for the perpetrators. The Committee further recommends that the State party establish care and rehabilitation programmes for child victims of torture and ill-treatment. 4. Family environment and alternative care Children deprived of a family environment 40. The Committee remains deeply concerned at the large numbers of children who have been deprived of a family environment as a consequence of abandonment by, the death of, or separation from their parents. In this regard, concern is expressed, inter alia, at reports regarding difficulties and slow progress in tracing separated families and children; the lack of adequate mechanisms of protection for children living in institutions; the placement of children in institutions for long periods and the predominance of the use of placement in institutions over the development of alternative care measures. 41. The Committee further reiterates its concern that children deprived of their family environment may increasingly travel to the main cities, where they may live on the streets and be particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse (see the Committee’s recommendation, CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 17). 42. The Committee recommends that the State party develop additional programmes to facilitate alternative care, provide additional training for social and welfare workers and establish independent complaint and monitoring mechanisms for alternative care institutions. The Committee urges the State party to make every effort to strengthen family tracing programmes and to increase its efforts in providing support, including training for parents, to discourage the abandonment of children. The Committee further recommends that the State party ensure adequate periodic review of the placement of children living in institutions. Adoption 43. The Committee remains concerned at gaps in the State party’s domestic legislation on adoption and that existing adoption procedures are usually not respected and are reported to be