https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/11yrs-after-memory-loss-cabbie-reunites-with-parents/articleshow/65568967.cms

Caroline Boudreaux at an orphanage.

Caroline Boudreaux at an orphanage.

We’ve all been at that precipice where disillusionment settles like an unshakeable cloak over the psyche. Ordinary tasks become gargantuan mountains to climb. And hope seems illusive. Yet, there are some that have the gumption to extricate themselves from all self doubt, and see the nadir as a point where they can rise up from, and make something beautiful out of. It’s responsible living, and Caroline Boudreaux, founder of the Miracle Foundation and the winner of the United Nations Humanitarian Award 2017 is a proponent of such change. Among the fortunate few who found her life’s calling at the height of professional success — a handsomely paying job, where Caroline found herself discontented, unfulfilled and looking for meaning. A visit to India, a hapless child she met at Odisha and the decrepit state of Indian orphanages and parentless children shocked her, and Caroline started Miracle Foundation. “The day was auspicious — it was Mother’s Day. I decided I had to do something to help children. I simply could not go on with my life as if they didn’t exist. I couldn’t un-see what I had seen. The idea for the Miracle Foundation was born that day. Every child, every miracle deserves the foundation of a family.

Since then — miraculously — people of all ages, all walks of life, and all socio-economic backgrounds have joined us. Together, we’re giving a loving family and personalised care to thousands of orphaned children,” enthuses Boudreaux. The warmth in her demeanour as she mingles with children, goes about her day’s work is apparent, and the conviction that children are the future is what eggs this kindhearted soul who was categorised among the most impactful non-profit leaders in the US and India. Of the moniker, she enthuses, “We’re categorised as one of the most impactful non-profits as we have a proven methodology that works. We show donors that their investments are going into the minds, mouths and stomachs of the children we serve, and our earnest work has paid off. Bill Gates said it best, ‘All lives, no matter where lived, are of equal value.’ Miracle Foundation isn’t working in India because India has a bigger problem. It works in India because this is where we started. All children deserve the love of a family. We’re working with organisations all over the world to make sure children have a family, not an orphanage and not a state to look after them. They need families, no matter where they live. My favourite change about India is her youth. They get it. They know and want to change the plight of the poor.”

Interacting with children

PUNE: The 20 of the 33 inmates rescued from an orphanage in ..

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Image used for representational purpose By Express News Service

KOCHI:The state government on Wednesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that children in Janaseva Sisubhavan, an orphanage in Aluva, were sexually abused and suffered physical torture. Besides, 62 kids went missing from the centre.

Meanwhile, Janaseva sought permission to withdraw the petition against taking over the children’s home and the court dismissed the petition as withdrawn. The state also made a revelation it apprehended children being brought to the state from outside states by Janaseva Sisuhavan, an orphanage at Aluva, for the purpose of human trafficking and for other allied activities.

A full-fledged investigation is needed to unearth the truth in this regard. Aluva Janaseva, which is the petitioner in the case, is a non-governmental organisation running two children’s homes - one at Mekkad, Ernakulam, for boys and another at Aluva for girls. Out of the 104 children, 60 are boys and 44 are girls.

The Social Justice Department submitted that Aluva Janaseva failed to give an explanation regarding the missing of children from the home. The institution has no registration contemplated under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

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Shehzadi Malik has watched the seven-minute video clip on her phone a few hundred times these past three months. Sometimes she is looking for clues. Sometimes she is just watching it, empty of hope. Sometimes she is simply looking at her nine-year-old boy, Kabir. This CCTV footage was given to Malik by the police, on a pen drive, and it’s the last record she has of her son, who went missing on May 11 this year.

In the video, at 2.25 p.m. that day, Kabir enters the frame; he is walking back from tuitions in Delhi’s Nizamuddin colony — as he has done for two years — carrying a big red-and-black schoolbag on his back. His gait is jaunty but he seems to be in no particular hurry; at one point he appears to mock-bowl with his left hand, at another he stops to pick up something from the pavement, maybe a coin or a pebble. He doesn’t exit the frame, he gets obscured by a row of Ashoka trees, then the video ends. “Can you see him standing behind the tree?” Malik asks, pointing to a corner of the phone screen where a portion of his black trousers is just about visible through the foliage. “ Maybe he is waiting for someone, or talking to someone. He is a friendly child, he spoke to everyone in the area,” she says, the possibilities clearly confounding her.

A month after the news of the alleged rape of an 11-year-old child in Chennai was reported, an orphanage in the city is now under the scanner for sexually harassing over 40 students between the ages of 4 and 15.

The matter came to light when two city magistrates - Anitha Ananth and B Soundarya - were invited to conduct a legal awareness programme at the Eternal Word Trust orphanage in Saraswathi Nagar, Thirumullaivoyal, on Thursday.

According to the police, a few children at the orphanage came forward to complain about the harassment that they had been facing. The Avadi All Women Police Station Inspector Shoba Rani, who was present at the programme, took note of their complaint and acted quickly to rescue the children.

Following the complaint, 24 girls and 20 boys were shifted out of the orphanage to care homes.

As investigations began, the police soon discovered that the orphanage did not have an operating license.

Children battle hunger, isolation and verbal abuse at Bihar' ..

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NEW DELHI,

In its audit of 21 Specialised Adoption Agencies in 20 Bihar distts, TISS found some children as old as three years were not speaking at all because there was no trained staff and also because they had no one to speak to. These institutions have 70 per cent girls. Children are also battling hunger, isolation and verbal abuse at these institutions.

TRAPPED in a world of silence, some children living in Bihar’s Specialised Adoption Agencies don’t speak at all because they have no one to talk to, reveals a Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) report that details instances of hunger, isolation and verbal abuse at the State-run institutions.

Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) are homes established by the Government to house abandoned, surrendered and missing children in the 0-6 age group. In its audit of 21 SAAs in 20 Bihar districts, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences found some children as old as three years were not speaking at all because there was no trained staff and also because they had no one to speak to. These institutions have 70 per cent girls. The TISS report also lists the various forms of punishment for the young children, some who are orphans, some who are runaways and others who may have been abandoned by their families.

“Acts such as locking the child in the bathroom, making them do sit-ups, isolating them, abusing them verbally were noticed at these homes,” the report said. Describing the punishments “very disturbing”, Mohammad Tarique, who led the TISS team that prepared the report, said they have long-term impact.

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Protest Children should have clear, accessible and safe channels to complain about the way they are treated, and the State must ensure effective monitoring , PTI

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WRITTEN BY

Asha Bajpai

Asha Bajpai

Asha Bajpai

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WRITTEN BY

dna Correspondent