At Miracle Foundation India, as we work to ensure children grow up in safe, nurturing families and reach their full potential, we honor the dedicated social workers who make this mission possible. This month, we celebrate the remarkable efforts of Sumita Dey, Program Manager, Voluntary Health Association of Tripura (VHAT), whose journey in child protection began in 2016.
Her work took a defining turn when she began engaging closely with children in institutional care and saw that while institutions provide protection, families offered something deeper, a sense of belonging, stability, and the foundation for a child’s holistic development. Determined to help children return to family environments, Sumita became deeply involved in Family Strengthening and Family-Based Alternative Care. As an empanelled Adoption Social Worker under the Department of Social Welfare, she has worked closely with Child Care Institutions, district authorities, and child protection stakeholders to ensure safe and sustainable transitions into family care. Her efforts have led to 6 successful adoptions and 10 foster care placements, including helping 2 siblings found alone on a railway platform find a permanent, loving family, restoring not just their safety, but their sense of home.
Beyond placements, Sumita has focused on strengthening families themselves. Over the past decade, she has supported the reintegration of more than 200 children with their biological families, extended families, or alternative care arrangements. Through counselling, family preparation, and follow-up, she has helped ensure reintegrations are stable and centred on the child’s best interests. She continues to champion adoption and foster care, including for older children, challenging assumptions and expanding possibilities for those often overlooked. Sumita’s journey reflects the transformative impact of a committed social worker, helping children move beyond institutional care into environments filled with love, dignity, and lasting belonging.
Building on this shared commitment to family-based care, Miracle Foundation India, in partnership with VHAT, organised a two-day orientation on Family Strengthening and Family-Based Alternative Care on January 6, 2026, in Agartala, Tripura. The programme brought together 65 participants, including key child protection stakeholders, to strengthen systems and promote family-based care. It was inaugurated by Shri Tinku Roy, Honourable Minister for Social Welfare, Government of Tripura, in the presence of Shri Achintam Kilikdar, Member Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Social Education, Government of Tripura; Smt. Jayanti Debbarma, Chairperson, Tripura Commission for Protection of Child Rights; Smt. Asmita Banik, Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee, West Tripura; and Mr. Sujit Ghosh, Executive Director, VHAT.
Shri Tinku Roy emphasized every child’s right to grow up in a safe and nurturing family and called for prioritizing family-based care over institutionalization. Other dignitaries reinforced the importance of strengthening families as the foundation of children’s well-being. The workshop marked a significant step toward strengthening Tripura’s child protection system, ensuring that more children, like those Sumita has supported, have the opportunity to grow up in secure, supportive, and loving families.