Photo credit: Lynne Dobson
The Problem
It is a global crisis. As you read this, millions of children are separated from their families, living in institutions or on the streets. Many live with substandard care, many unloved and at risk, all of them dreaming of family. In the worst cases, this kind of environment can expose children to devastating abuse and psychological trauma, creating adults who are 10x more likely to become sex workers and 50x more likely to be in prison.
But, we are also in the midst of a profound paradigm shift, as people question the way we take care of our children. Efforts are being made to reform foster care systems, support families before separation occurs and reunite families where preventable separation has occurred. We all know we can do better and our kids deserve better.
It’s complex work; every child deserves an individualized approach. A movement has begun and Miracle Foundation India is on the front line.
Our Solution
Our work in the past was grounded in helping orphaned and vulnerable children to have a better quality of life but has evolved to also ensure that every child has an opportunity to grow up in a family. Our goal is to prevent children from entering the system in the first place
In order to achieve this our core initiatives are:
Prevent children from entering the system in the first place
Every day around the world, social workers, caregivers and government officials make decisions that impact millions of orphaned and vulnerable children. Partnering with UNICEF, we provide highly specialized training and educational resources for these “boots on the ground” workers in the childcare ecosystem.
Through this collaboration, Miracle Foundation India has trained 2300 government officials and partnered with community programs that identify and support at-risk children and vulnerable families…long before child placement in a Child Care Institution becomes a necessity.
Ensure that every child thrives
All children are entitled to an education, nutrition, health, and protective services. Over the past twenty years, we have developed our proprietary Thrive Scale™ Methodology, based on the UN Rights of the Child. Using this, we are currently working with close to 300 Child Care Institutions in India (CCIs) to improve the lives of more than 15,000 children.
The CCIs we directly support see a 47% increase in thrive scores and a 20% rate of reunification of children with their families.
How We Measure Success
Our proprietary Thrive Scale™ methodology allows us to measure progress and assess risk at every stage of our work. Developed over the past two decades, this one-of-a-kind tool is taking the guesswork out of orphan care…and has propelled Miracle Foundation into a global nonprofit organization for children.
CASE STUDY
Aarambh: From Orphanage to Family-Focused Program
Sixty years of research suggests that children without families have a lower IQ and a higher chance of ending up trafficked or even incarcerated. We all know there is a better way, Here is the story of how one CCI is addressing the problem Read More >
Children’s lives improved
Government workers and childcare providers trained
Children reunited with families
