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, the formal system of foster care in India is in its early days and is yet to find considerable success. Satyajeet Mazumdar, Head of Advocacy at Catalysts for Social Action talks to Devashish Mishra,...

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, Satyajeet Mazumdar, Head of Advocacy at Catalysts for Social Action talks to Ian Anand Forber-Pratt, the Director of Global Advocacy for Children’s Emergency Relief International, about the different kinds...

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 child. Anandhi Yagnaraman, CEO of Catalysts for Social Action, along with Smriti Gupta, Founder of Where Are India’s Children and Dr. Aloma Lobo, a pediatrician & counsellor by profession and the...

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 a large extent.  Satyajeet Mazumdar, Head of Advocacy at Catalysts for Social Action talks to Vaishali & Suraj, two care leavers who talk about the ground realities they faced after they left...

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 safety net of family or a home or adequate education or money or a job would be a challenge for anyone even if they had all those things. So, when these care leavers exit the CCI, it’s important that...

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 support this sector. Despite all the problems that plague them, children still call an institution, their ‘home’. Satyajeet Mazumdar, Head of Advocacy at Catalysts for Social Action talks to Senior...

Institutional care is the largest safety network available today to the vulnerable children in India with over 256,000 children being taken care of in 7163 Child Care Institutions. In this episode we introduce you to Child Care Institutions, explore the crucial role they play in providing care and protection to these children and how they nurture them into adulthood. We examine the challenges faced by CCIs and try to imagine feasible solutions. Satyajeet Mazumdar, Head of Advocacy...

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 they look forward to? And as a country how do we look after them? In episode 1 of Care of the State, Satyajeet Mazumdar, Head of Advocacy at Catalysts for Social Action speaks to a former Judge of...

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.