Child Protection India Project #19906

Safe care and adoption for Indian Babies

by Snehalaya 'Home of Love'

Safe care and adoption for Indian Babies

Project Report | Feb 26, 2018
A tour of our new adoption center

By Joyce Connolly | Honorary Director

Our new hospital

In our last report we shared that the news that our new adoption center had opened its doors a few days earlier. Hundreds of people attended the opening and we were so busy with them and settling our babies into their new home we didn't have enough time to give you a full tour of the new center you are supporting.

We are sincerely sorry about that and would like to rectify this right now. You can see some images of our brand new facilities in this report. You can also take a tour with our videographer as they captured the opening and toured some of the facilities. They also spoke with some of the attendees which include staff, supporters and former beneficiaries incuding Priya, who was adopted through our project many years ago and returned to celebrate with us, to hear what they think of it and our work.

The opening of the center moved our babies from a signifiantly smaller space we had outgrown in the center of the city to a much larger facility surrounded by farms on the outskirts of Ahmednagar. Here the babies and staff who care from them have lots of natural light and outside spaces to enjoy the fresh air and surrounding nature.

Being able to design our own space means we have connecting rooms so a caregiver preparing food in the kitchen can still keep a watchful eye on their charges. Our special units for premature babies and children with disabililties are also linked to the main baby rooms creating more communal focus and support for our staff and beneficiaries. A designated and cheerfully decorated room gives our older children their own space to sleep, play and learn. Guest rooms also enable adoptive parents to stay on site to bond with and learn more about the routine, personalitities and individual needs of their new babies before they take them home with them.

We are really happy and proud of our new home which can now accommodate an extra 20 more babies at a time and we are grateful to you in helping us to achieve this. Enjoy the tour!

Many of our babies are premature

There are many watchful eyes on our babies 24/7

Our new center is light & airy with lots of space

Outdoor spaces give our babies plenty of fresh air

Pictures sent by adoptive parents fill the walls

Links:

Permalink

Nov 28, 2017
Help us save more infants

By Joyce Connolly | Honorary Director

Our older children are harder to place

We have fantastic news! Thanks to your support we were able to open our new 50-bed adoption center on Sunday 26 November.

It’s unknown exactly how many babies are abandoned each year in India, but it is known that over 90% are girls. Babies are abandoned for many reasons by: victims of rape, unmarried mothers fearing recriminations and families unable to financially support a child or simply not wanting another girl in the family.

Our adoption center has rescued nearly 600 of these babies since 2004. Some have been dropped off at our centre by their mothers or left in the cot which sits outside our gates, others are found abandoned in public places, sadly many arrive in a fragile or premature state and require intensive care.

This means demand for the cots and medical services in our center has always been high and our space and resources were being stretched. With the opening of our new center last Sunday we now have an extra 30 cots and improved neo- and post-natal facilities which means we can provide for more infants and are able to keep a closer eye on those that require medical attention rather than having to send them to local hospitals for minor treatments. It also means we will be able to offer better support to the increasing number of babies we are seeing with special needs. The same is true of older children left in our care, especially siblings, so it's great that we also have much larger and brighter play areas for them as they await adoption.

Not only will this new center save more babies it will also help in the rehabilitation of unwed mothers, rape victims and minors. Expectant women and girls in India have little choice when it comes to unwanted pregnancies, it is our mission to provide support and more options to them whether that be through education, vocational training or remarriage options via our other 17 projects. If they chose to give up their child, they can take comfort in the knowledge that we are a government approved adoption service which finds loving families for their babies and we are there to support them every step of the way.

We are also there to ensure the smooth transition of child to adoptive parents. Our adoption ceremonies provide an opportunity for us to say goodbye to our babies and welcome the adoptive parents into our Snehalaya family. Many of our adoptive parents are so impressed by our work they keep in touch with us to support our work and report on the progress of their child which means a lot to us. Our door is always open to those children who wish to return to see where they came from.

Your support is essential in helping us to continue our work and is also eligible for #EndofYearGiving until 31 December, which means your donation will go further in helping to ensure an abandoned baby is brought into our care and found a loving family home.

Our new center has more medical facilities

Our new center will make a world of difference

Links:

Visit our website

Permalink

Sep 5, 2017
Raising hope

By Nick Cox | Honorary Director

Our nurses provide 24 hour care to our infants

Walk up the iron stairs to our Snehankur adoption center and you'll hear the air filled with what you'd expect to hear from any maternity ward in the world. The reassuring sounds of babies crying. As you enter, there is a small room to your left with a neat row of incubators for the premature and new borns. To the right are the older infants.

At first glance there is nothing that separates them from any other baby you'd see in such a ward. Except for the fact these kids have all been abandoned. Some are the product of rape. Others have been left by unwed mothers. All too many have been discarded for no other reason than for being born a girl. In some cases a new born is deserted for having a deformity or disability of some kind.

The situation of millions of mothers from poor economic backgrounds in India are such that they all too often robbed of their choices, forcing them to make decisions to the outside world that might seem incomprehensible. This was certainly the case with baby Ajit...

He was born with a double cleft palate and left outside a temple. When found found by a local he had been infested by an army of red ants and needed immediate medical attention. He was taken to the nearest hospital where surgeons got to work administering the life-saving treatment that was urgently needed. Luckily the baby boy was made of tough stuff and pulled through and within a few weeks he was referred to our Snehankur hospital. There he received the care and love that had been missing in his young life by our dedicated team of caregivers.

In the weeks and months that followed, despite everything this little boy had been through his personality shone through and he was to prove a firm favourite with all that worked there. He was also about to begin have corrective surgery.

At the same time, a childless couple on the other side of the world in Switzerland were looking to adopt. (as previously reported, since the beginning of this year it has now been made possible for us to open our doors to international adoptive parents.) The couple had heard of Ajit's plight and began the lengthy process of adopting him with the reassurance that they would make sure he had the best surgery that was needed. It took almost a year until they finally got the go ahead.

They arrived in India a little while ago, somewhat jet-lagged but energised by the excitement of finally seeing their little boy for the first time and being able to take him home. I'm really privileged to witness when they met for the first time and it was the most natural bonding you'd wish to see. Ajit was comfortable with them and it was clear to see that if was love at first sight. They were all made for each other.

Since we opened Snehankur's doors in 2014 we have rescued nearly 600 abandoned infants and placed them on our highly successful adoption program. We can also boast a 100% survival rate for all of the babies left with us, despite it being touch and go in many instances.

Such is the need for this vital initiative, the premises we are currently based in have become woefully inadequate.
In October our babies will move into a larger premises that will endeavour to meet the demands of many more of unfortunate infants with 50 beds. As well as the usual features we have been known for, it will also house a wing for babies with infectious diseases. With your support we will also be able to provided a ventilator (one of two in Ahmednagar) to our own beneficiaries and with other establishments in need. We can't wait to share the news and pictures of our opening in our next report.

The success of Snehankur is undoubtably teamwork. You are a part of that team that is changing lives and destinies of these rescued infants. You truly are part of something great. Thank you.

Infants with special needs receive physiotherapy

Links:

Visit our website

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.