Families for Children ( FFC) Dhaka
Subject: FFC Dhaka
Introduction
Families for Children (FFC) was founded by a Canadian lady named Sandra Simpson. Families for Children worked in Vietnam, Cambodia, Somalia, India, El Salvador and Bangladesh, now in Bangladesh and India. The home in Bangladesh was initially opened to fulfill the needs of the war babies.
All of the children who come to FFC in Dhaka are abandoned high risk babies or children. The majority of our kids have been living in the FFC home since babies, we have in the last few months taken on a lot of new children (approximately 26 new children) ranging in age from 4 – 8, coming from very sad backgrounds. They are all settling in well. Without FFC’s support these children would have a very bleak future.
Background
FFC started foreign adoptions of war babies in 1972 and opened their own Baby home in Dhaka in 1975 with only 12 children, to cope with the growing number of high risk babies due to a new law of the country stopping all foreign adoptions. The main objective was to provide much needed help to the abandoned, destitute, mal-nourished children of Bangladesh. The children are given full support, shelter, food, clothing, medical, education and a supportive family environment so as to allow them to grow up as normal citizens of the country.
By 1985 we had over 400 children, due to the large number we collaborated with British Airways to an English Lady called Pat Kerr to build Sreepur. After the children moved to Sreepur in 1989, Sandra sent Tove Kilburn (Canadian) to Dhaka to open up the Dhaka Baby home for High Risk infants. In the 1990s Sreepur was handed over to FFC UK (Now Shishu Polli Plus) and the Dhaka baby home remained under FFC Canada.
We have 130 children at present in the home in 2 rented houses in Uttara, Dhaka and a vacation camp in the village of Noagoan in Narayangonj district. Out of our total number of children, 22 of these children have special needs. Their ages range from newborn to 16.
The running costs of the organization are funded by our child sponsorship program, and donations from private donors outside the country, mainly Canada, USA and Finland. The organization is run by all local staff and is managed by Sandra from head offices in Montreal and Toronto.
Adoption
We arrange adoptions to local families living in Bangladesh. No foreign adoptions are allowed due to the law of the land. Anyone interested in adopting a child from us, can contact us directly for more information.