Orphanages can be a child's best hope

Publication date: 12 May 2017

I write in response to the commentary featuring the work of Lumos and the call to "end orphanages" everywhere and the reference of the "horrific" situation in India ("An end to orphanages," May 7). I was both heartened and saddened to read the piece. Heartened because there is no greater need for our children than that of keeping them in their families and with your global influence and there can be no better ambassador for a worldwide embracing of alternative care options for vulnerable children. Saddened, because the reasons the authors have so rightly listed — those of extreme poverty, discrimination and disability — are not so easily wished away by the single-minded focus on closure of institutional care.

In a country like India where the number of vulnerable children is expected to be more than 24 million by 2030 and rate of adoption is abysmally low (for reasons ranging from social stigma to extreme vetting to counter the danger of trafficking) and where community-based programs are in their infancy, institutional care with a rights-based approach and individual child care plan is often the child's only hope. India has some small group care models that are well established and are able to provide children with access to safety, health, education and social development tailored to their individual needs, a solution where other forms of alternative care are yet to evolve or even be conceptualized.

Our experience of 22 years has shown that Indian children in institutional care are mostly orphans or, equally heartbreakingly, have been abandoned by their own families. Those who have some distant family are very reluctant to take responsibility for them. The prime objective of Lumos is to transform an outdated and harmful system into one which supports and protects children and enables them to have a brighter tomorrow. We see an obvious connect between Lumos and Udayan Care here, perhaps through a wider lens. We think it important to differentiate between large child care institutions and other models, like Udayan Care which has small group homes, lifetime committed mentors to the children, personalized care and social integration that includes community schooling and a participatory approach.

Interestingly, Harry Potter himself finds the love of a true family only once he is at Hogwarts in Hagrid and Dumbledore and friends that are like siblings, far away from the "kinship care" of the Dursleys. Hogwarts too is an institution, one that values Harry for who he is as a special individual, just like each child in our care. The dilemma here is that in circumstances where the ground realities are complex and do not allow for the child to be safe and protected in other forms of alternative care, is it not simplistic to undermine the role that safe institutions can play? Should then the emphasis not be on improving standards of care and monitoring mechanisms at institutions rather than propagate for their full closure?

With the global trend towards de-institutionalization, we at Udayan Care have been facing several such challenges and questions. The recently held International Conference on Alternative Care in Geneva, at which I had an opportunity to participate, clearly laid the way toward de-institutionalization. But the core question that remains to be addressed is how? Do we have the right understanding and strategy required to achieve this in the best interests of our children? Is there only one answer? Could it not be harmful to our children being placed in foster or kinship care with little or no monitoring mechanisms, the possibility of exploitation looming large in their young lives?

At Udayan Care, we're committed to working with like-minded organizations, governments and international bodies to find implementable solutions to the vulnerabilities that South Asian children are subjected to every day of their lives.

One of our other key advocacy efforts has been the publication of an academic journal titled "Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond." This journal was launched in 2014 and has become very popular among key stakeholders on child and youth care and social work universities in India and abroad. We invite you to subscribe to the journal. We would love to have your contribute articles for the forthcoming issues.

We recently had Jason Isaacs spend an afternoon with the girls of one of our homes. We would love anyone to have visit us too, and see what a LIFE (Living in Family Environment) at Udayan Home really is and meet the young adults that still call Udayan Care home.

Dr Kiran Modi, New Dehli, India

The writer is founder and managing trustee of Udayan Care.

Countries: India

Organizations: Lumos