https://reasonstobecheerful.world/india-care-leavers-support/
"Across the world, 18th birthdays are a time for celebration. But in India, an
estimated 30,000 teens reach this threshold in childcare institutions (places
that offer shelter and protection to vulnerable youth) every year, and age out
of care to become “nobody’s responsibility,” as one person who works to support
such teens put it.
Girish Mehta and Anisha Sharma have faced this firsthand. “I had barely a month
to figure out my life after I had to move out at 18,” says Mehta, who had lived
in a childcare institution (CCIs) in Jaipur since he was 12. Sharma grew up in
a Delhi home for children living with HIV and AIDS. When she turned 18, she
says she was “mid-course, mid-dream, and on my own. I wasn’t mature enough to
cope.”
Under the national
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act,
care leavers like Mehta and Sharma are legally entitled to “aftercare” support
until the age of 21 — or, in some cases, 23. But in practice, a majority of
India’s care leavers receive little or no support when they step into
adulthood. “Without guidance and support, many risk once again falling through
the cracks,” Veena Lal, who founded Karm Marg, a home for children at risk on
the outskirts of Delhi, says.
Mehta and Sharma wanted “to ensure that subsequent generations of care leavers
have the support that we lacked,” Sharma says. So they created Careleavers
Inner Circle (CLiC), a social impact, tech-enabled startup that is “led by care
leavers, for care leavers.” Supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), they began by building a database of care leavers in Rajasthan.
Simultaneously, they developed a tech platform on which care leavers across the
country could register. Composed of peers (most CLiC members are care leavers
under 30), today, the platform has over 3,200 members, with 14 staff members
and dozens of volunteers operating in four Indian states. New members receive a
care kit which contains a smartphone, hygiene essentials, clothes and more.
They also get access to job openings, courses to improve their professional
skills, free counseling and most of all, a supportive community as they begin
their journey to adulthood."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
