We are a Foster Care Organization in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India that is sustainable, effective and forward thinking.

Foster Care India has been on the ground in Udaipur Rajasthan since May 2011. We find, license and monitor safe, nurturing homes for abused, abandoned or orphan children. We also increase public awareness about orphaned and vulnerable children's rights by offering volunteer opportunities, producing evidenced based research on people's perceptions of foster care and adoption and involving the local community in Foster Care India's day to day operation.

This work is on the forefront of social change here in India. Foster Care, as a system, does not exist in India. However, times are changing. There is a huge need for social initiatives like this.

As President & Founder I have based the development and future of Foster Care India on a dream; that through our work we can build a foundation for Foster Care, as a sustainable system in India, for the foreseeable future. In order to achieve this dream our work has to be small in application and huge in impact.

We are currently launching the first evidence based study measuring people's perceptions of Foster Care. The entire process is strategically designed to spread awareness, create a foundation for our work and to aid others who wish to do similar work.

As of May 2012 we are just beginning our journey. We plan to be purposeful, sustainable and culturally conscious in our development

Problem

The amount of orphaned children in India is a problem of epic proportions. Creating a Foster Care System in Udaipur is a real and tangible step toward addressing this problem. Foster Care pledges to keep children safe and give them life skills, insight and tools to be successful in society. Researchers and social theorists alike have postulated that since independence in 1947 India has moved from the joint family model to a more nuclear family model because of people moving to cities in order to seek work. Parents have then moved to cities away from their joint families. In part, due to the emergence of satellite families in big cities, the families have not been able to self-regulate and/or absorb children whose parents face peril or whose parents have been abused. Children in India are orphaned by some of the following causes affecting their parents: AIDS, malaria, gender and caste discrimination, unclean water, illiteracy, and malnutrition. Research proves that retaining a child’s culture allows the child to have a stronger sense of identity which, in turn, diminishes the likelihood of developing mental health issues and/or falling into a transient or criminal lifestyle. Many Indians take pride in their cultural heritage and deep roots and traditions. This can be lost for children who do not have access to a stable, nurturing upbringing. Foster care fills this void until a permanent family can be identified.

Solution

According to UNICEF in 2009 over 31,000 children were orphaned in India in this year. The majority of children live in large government run orphanages or smaller private facilities. Systemic and widespread Foster Care does not exist in India. Research shows that Foster Care is an effective way to care for children in a family setting. Foster Care, however, is not without problems. FCI will learn from international literature and interviews about the challenges of establishing and running Foster Care systems. The goal is to create an evidence-based, efficient and effective system in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. The solution is innovative in the following ways: 1. Evidenced based: The President and Founder has a Masters in Social Work and is an adoptee from India. He grew up in America and is aware that he views this problem through Western eyes. Therefore FCI is launching a research study (with IRB exemption approval from Harvard School of Public Health) to measure Udaipur’s perceptions of Foster Care before doing work. 2.Scope and reach of work: FCI understands that people in Udaipur, Rajasthan and throughout India are weary of caring for a child of unknown background due to stratification in society due to centuries of caste, class, religious and occupational differences. 3.International Volunteer Program: FCI will encourage entire families to come together from within India and abroad to volunteer with FCI.

Example

Foster Care India will begin with one child and one foster home during its first 2 years. It will apply to the government of India to be a private contractor in regards to finding, licensing, training and monitoring foster homes. Since the concept is new for India, close internal scrutiny of every step of the process will be of paramount importance. The timeline will be as follows: Currently we are in year 1 and running a baseline survey of 650 households in Udaipur measuring the community perception of Foster Care. During Year 2 we will identify at least 1 Foster Family and at least 1 child. Foster families will come from the community and will need to be licensed, trained and monitored. We will learn as the Foster Care system develops in Udaipur and thus the progressive increase in families. Our goal is to focus on quality of work, not quantity. Take legal care of 1 to 5 children (Year 2), expand to 10 children (Year 3) (Children will remain in legal custody of the state government). Our model for training and monitoring will be created through focus group and qualitative polling about people’s learning tendencies in Udaipur. The training modules will be written through Foster Care India, often with the help of college, university and PhD students. Foster Care India will help the Indian government with existing initiatives. For example, a Palna (Foster Care) scheme is already in place where Foster Parents are paid a stipend to care for children. However, from our initial research it appears as if minimal amounts of the population know about the scheme. FCI’s model will continue to focus on public awareness initiatives.

Marketplace

Recently, India has been referred to as the land of NGOs. In Udaipur, a town of 541,000, there are over 600 NGOs currently registered. In the state of Rajasthan (where Udaipur is located), however, there are no exclusively Foster Care organizations. The same is true for India. Though some large cities a private Foster Care program as part of their larger work, there is nothing like Foster Care India running in India. Our “competitors” will actually be collaborators. We will work hard to expand the idea of Foster Care from many geographic and strategic directions. Agencies like BSSK in Pune and in Bangalore have already been in contact. They will benefit from our initial baseline work as it will inform their programs. In Udaipur it is possible that FCI will face challenges from a number of sources. If we are not strategic about our development the government may feel that we are imposing on child welfare. Therefore we will be conscious of this potential challenge. There are also some large child care NGOs in Udaipur who are known to cause difficulties for smaller NGOs trying to do work in the same field. We will continue to work humbly, morally and purposefully.