Reintegration, from a Child Care Institution (CCI) to family, is a years-long partnership between a child, a family, and the people supporting both, long before and long after the day a child actually goes home. Anisha’s story (name changed) shows that approach in full: fourteen years apart from her family, a careful decade of work to make reintegration possible, and years more of home visits, entitlement support, and education assistance to make sure it held.

In a village in Telangana, Anisha’s family, at one point, could not stay together. Her father, the household’s primary earner, developed a chronic illness that made regular work impossible, and the burden of keeping the household afloat fell entirely on her mother, who took up daily wage labour. It wasn’t enough to cover food, her father’s care, and a child’s needs. Like many families pushed past their breaking point, Anisha’s parents made the difficult decision to place her in institutional care in 2008, not because they didn’t want her, but because, for a time, they couldn’t provide for her.

For years, home was somewhere else. Anisha grew up at a CCI while her family worked towards stability. Regular assessments and contact with her parents helped keep the family connected. In 2022, after more than a decade, they were ready for reintegration.

That year, Anisha went home. But her story shows that reintegration is a process and not an event, one that continues long after the return. Making it last meant working on two fronts: rebuilding relationships and reinforcing what had broken the family up in the first place. The team made regular home visits, helping Anisha and her parents relearn how to live together and trust each other again. Alongside this, the family accessed entitlements they were owed but might have missed: food rations and a disability pension that eased pressure on her father.

Education was a third pillar. Help covering fees and transportation kept Anisha enrolled in college. She went on to complete a Master of Social Work. The results are visible today. Anisha, now 22, works as a Family Counsellor at one of the Bharosha Centres, supporting other families through challenging circumstances. Her income has added stability at home; her mother still works, but the household no longer depends on one precarious wage. Her younger brother has completed college and is now looking for a job.

Anisha still visits her CCI, and in 2024 was selected as a Miracle Foundation India Youth Ambassador, carrying her own story into work that helps others through theirs.