By Dr Girish Kulkarni | Founder
Thank you so much for your support of our adoption center, one of the largest in India. Babies come to us from a range of circumstances, including abandonment by parents, unwanted pregnancies and underage pregnancies. We have recently increased the capacity of our adoption center to accommodate 50 children at any given time and as always are almost at bursting point.
Last year, 4,009 children were adopted from institutes like ours in India, a significant return to the average before the pandemic and lockdowns drastically reduced the number of children being adopted. Of these, 449 were inter-country adoptions.
Our adoption center accounted for around one percent of the India-wide adoptions which, in a country of over 1 billion, shows the high impact your support has. There are an estimated 33,000 prospective parents in India are willing to adopt children and we only send children inter-country when they have special needs that result in their rejection by Indian parents.
As previously reported 14 of the children living in our Snehalaya shelter home have been declared legally free for adoption. We are really happy to report that one of our teenage girls has already received interest from two separate families and we are currently working with them to make sure we find her the right forever home.
In a new development, the system that manages adoptive parents is now also open to prospective foster parents. With reports of around 90% of the children who live in care having at least one parent, this is a significant development for those not eligible for adoption but unable to live with their families. We have been working on alternative family-based care for over six years and are ready to start recruiting these foster carers to provide a loving and secure family environment both for those awaiting for adoption and those who need a temporary home.
At the same time they are placed in foster care we are also working to strengthen families to ensure they return to their closest relatives. This often involves financial or health support as well as psychological support and family counselling. We are hopeful that this initiative will prevent more babies and children from being separated from their birth families.
Your support empowers us to be at the fore of childcare and ready for all the new developments to ensure all children in India receive their right to grow up in a family. Thank you for being part of our extended Snehalaya family.
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By Dr Girish Kulkarni | Founder
By Girish Kulkarni | Founder, Snehalaya
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