Foster Care

More than 90% of the children who are ‘legally free for adoption’ are above the age of 5 years. Unfortunately, adoption is rare for these older children as there is a high demand by adoptive parents for children below the age of 2 years old. Foster care is a more viable option for them. However, th…

Family Based Care

Child care institutions help provide the basic needs of a child - food, shelter, clothing, education and provide a safe space for those in situations of extreme risk. While they do their best to provide family-like care, it still isn’t really family.  On this episode of Care of the State, Satyajee…

Adoption

Choosing to adopt a child is a huge decision. So, unlike what you see in the movies, a hero can’t pick up a random child from the street and raise them. You would need to follow a comprehensive legal process with measures set in place by the government to ensure the safety and stability of the chil…

Aftercare - Part 2

50,000 young people exit institutional care every year when they turn 18. Once they leave, many of them sadly fall off the radar and eventually become “nobody’s responsibility”. Despite aftercare being an integral part of the Juvenile Justice Act, in practice it remains overlooked and inadequate to…

Aftercare - Part 1

There are over 2.5 lakh children in India residing in child care institutions. When they turn 18, they have to leave the CCI that has cared for them, and the only place they call home. They are expected to live on their own and fend for themselves. Preparing to integrate into society without any sa…

Institutional Care - Part 2

A child care institution starts out with good intentions. However, that’s never enough. Most CCIs in India are struggling to provide the best care under the burden of scarce resources, poor infrastructure, inadequate administrative capabilities as well as limited people who are willing to work and …

Institutional Care - Part 1

Institutional care is the largest safety network available today to vulnerable children in India with over 256,000 children being taken care of in 7163 child care institutions (CCIs). In this episode, we explore the crucial role that child care institutions play in providing care and protection to …

Vulnerable Children in India

Over 170 million children in India face situations of abuse, exploitation and neglect. This is caused by situations of poverty, social exclusion, drug addiction, sexual abuse, crime or they have been orphaned, or abandoned. So what happens to these vulnerable children? What kind of childhood can th…

Trailer

Welcome to Care of the State – a podcast by Catalysts for Social Action that helps you understand the plight of vulnerable children in India and the people and organisations that work relentlessly to look after them. Tune in every week on any podcast app of your choice.