Foster Care for 100 Orphan Children in India

Executive Summary:-

Orphaned and vulnerable children/ children without parental care often have a long trail of painful experiences. Nothing can take away the pain of the children who have lost one or both parents due to various circumstances and leading a life full of insecurity.

Foster care is a form of care where a child is placed outside his own or relation who has been deprived of care from his/her own family. Foster care is the priority when the child does not live with his/her own family or failed to get a relation.

Foster Care Provides Care and Protection to children outside family:

Foster care is an interim arrangement where a child is placed in the care arrangements in an extended family naturally not having any blood relation. It ensures the child’s right to a family. The child grows up in surroundings of similar culture and social family background, making it possible to wean the child & be integrated with his own biological family as and when they have overcome the crisis. Foster family care provides a child with basic need of love, affection and attention.

According to the UNCRC every child should live in a supportive, protective and caring environment that promotes his/her full potential. Children with inadequate or no parental care are at special risk of being denied such a nurturing environment. Children who cannot live with their parents should still grow up in a loving home and enjoy all their rights.

With an objective to ensure the family environment YCDA has been promoting the Foster Care initiatives in the districts of Boudh and Bolangir. This programme supports the foster families- families who open their homes to children in need of care.

To ensure the safe childhood, continue their education and ensuring all-round developments of the children. During the period we have identified 100 children who are living with out parental care and stated intervention with small individual donation and existing project support.

Key intervention during the period:

Need based Support to the Children:-

The programme for assistance to needy children aims to help the children living in Foster care and Kinship care arrangements. Children profilling and individual care plan are prepared before the intervention. A family’s situation is reviewed every year and an annual plan is made as per their need.

Children need various types of support ranging from those things necessary for survival, such as food and health care, to those interventions that will provide a better quality of life in the future such as education, clothes, shoes, psychosocial support and economic self-sufficiency. In the real world many children who are orphan and semi orphan are malnourished, sick and without shelter.

All the children are in family based care. Need and planning of every child is different, so to fulfill their needs to some extent, YCDA provide support to Foster Children as per there need annual need base plan. During the period all 100 children are supported by Food packets, Educational support, Tuition fees, Shoes, Clothes, School bags & many more.

The major focus of the project is to ensure that all children continue their study. During the period, regular follow up is going on so that children do not get dropped out from schools. During the period, the social worker supervised their academic progress records and discusses with the parents and teachers. All the 100 children are going to school and tuitions regularly. On regular basis, counseling and psychosocial support helps to the children to come out from the depression & traumatic situation.

Cluster Level Children Camp:

YCDA creates a small initiative of this camp to create a child friendly learning atmosphere where children learn, play, enjoy their life. Enabling children to realize their inherent potentials and as gesture of project initiation, cluster level children camps were organized for the children age group of 9 to 14 years.

10 nos. of cluster level children camp have been organized in both the districts. 874 nos. of School children came together to a platform, shared their views on their issues and   participated in different competitions like role play, Debate, drawing, singing, quiz & clay model preparing &creative writing and they expose their potentiality heroically. The children gain knowledge & skills on four rights, responsibilities & life skills.Prizes have been given to children who performed better in the competition.

Cluster level children camp has been resulted to enhance the participation of the children and make them efficient for leadership quality. It also enhances the involvement of teachers. Children could participate to share their views and difficulties they get in regular basis. Different competitions and a winning attitude developed among the children which enhanced their confidence to participate actively. The teachers were also actively involved and carried on the whole process of the camp sincerely.

Training to care givers on parental skills :- 

The role of parents and caregivers is critical in ensuring optimal child developmental outcomes and positive parenting is related to fewer behavioural problems during childhood and adolescence as well as improved emotional and social competence.

55 nos of caregivers participated in the training programme where we trained them in their parenting skills & care.In the training the topics to be discussed are defined by caregiver themselves. In the training programme information is provided on health, nutrition, and child development that it is felt would be useful to caregivers.

The program is useful and effective in bringing out some positive changes in their knowledge and attitudes toward child rearing such as decrease in beating the child and increase in talking to the child and explain wrong doings. The program changed the participants' behaviours in positive ways that after the program they started to spend more time in various activities with their children comparing with their responses at the beginning of the programme.Our staffs do home visit regularly to addresses the issue of care for the child within the child's natural context and underscores the importance of the caregivers' role in supporting the child’s development.

Family Strengthening:- 

YCDA aims to build the capacity of caregivers so as to provide better care and protection to their children. During the period, few families were identified for under taking various Income Generation Activities. We provide training and orientation on entrepreneurship, business plan development & planning.

During the period 12 nos. of families have been supported by revolving fund for income generating activities like vegetable cultivation, Puja shop, Rice processing, Grocery shop etc. which can allow the families to earn additional income.We trained & capacitate the families in business plan, profit loss calculation & market linkages. Staffs visited the family and giving the hand holding support for taking forward the Income generation activities and generate savings for the children.

Hii…

I m a 13 years old girl reading in class VIII. I lost my both parents 2 years ago. Then after, I am living with my uncle & aunt. They give me love & affection same as their biological children.

I was irregular in school & in depression when I lost my parents but now I am going to school & tuition regularly, reading well in my class. I love to play with my friends.

                                   Thanks to Global Giving for Your Support …

• Report on Foster Care for 100 children in India (PDF)