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Foster care is a well-known and accepted practice in the United States.

Although it is developed and far more common in the United States, it is still
only developing in countries around the world. In 1994, Dr. Kiran Modi
founded Udayan Care, a non-governmental organization that supports and
provides for socially disadvantaged children and women. Modi was inspired
to create Udayan Care after she lost her son who was adamant and selfless
about taking part time jobs to help and support poor children. Modi was
brought up and lived everyday by following the Indian philosophy that giving
was a way of life. Udayan Care aimed to empower vulnerable children,
women and youth, and operate in 13 cities across India. According to an
article written by Antra Bhargava, in a country with over 30 million orphans,
only a few thousand were adopted in 2014. The rest are languishing in
orphanages, private and public, being trafficked, forced into begging,
construction trades, [and] with many now missing and unaccounted for.
Upon learning of the appalling conditions provided by institutions for
orphans, Modi focused on providing homes for abandoned and orphaned
children. Udayan Care has had a vision of improving the lives of those who
are disadvantaged and integrate them into society. Children were admitted
into Udayan Ghars, long-term residential homes for orphaned or abandoned
children, through referrals by Child Welfare Committees under the Ministry of
Women and Child Development. It is often that children in orphanage care do
not learn to bond and dont get to experience how important it is to have a
sense of home. Children under adoptive or foster care may not receive

equal treatment given to the biological children of the family. To overcome


this, there are provisions under foster care [laws] that keep regular checks
on the parents so no childs rights are affected in any way (Devpura, 2014).
Udayan Ghars were founded on the belief that a loving home and family was
every childs birthright and they strongly emphasized that a family
environment was an intrinsic element of the Udayan Ghar model. Their
model ensured that children were brought up by a group of volunteer Mentor
Parents who were committed to raising the children as their own. The
Udayan Ghar L.I.F.E. (Living in a Family Environment) model replicates family
by placing children aged 6-18 years old in relatively small homes and provide
parenting by Mentor Parents to nurture and educate them. Children who
displayed academic aptitude were sent to the best schools, while those with
other skills were given vocational training and taught technical skills. Udayan
Care was focused on helping the children live fulfilling and enriched lives.
Although Udayan Care has become so successful in helping out less
fortunate children, Dr. Modi worries that an organization that isnt continually
growing is an organization in decline. She knew it was important to develop a
new Vision for 2020 to cater to the evolving environment of foster care.
Despite the acknowledged success of the Udayan Ghar program, several
risks needed to be addressed. Funding created a large issue that became
vital for the programs stability. It became difficult to find donors who shared
Udayan Cares vision and were willing to meet capital or revenue costs. The
delays in the development and execution of projects, or lack of satisfaction

with the quality or cost effectiveness of projects, could lead to donor


frustration and a decision to withdraw funds before projects were completed.
Retaining employees at Udayan Care, particularly at higher levels, was
challenging. In recent years, salaries in this sector had increased
dramatically and employees generally left for better paying jobs. This high
turnover rate made it challenging to align new staff to want to be committed
to the long term vision and goals of the organization, thus reducing
organizational efficiency. It was important to seek those who were passionate
about social welfare and were interested in meaningful work. Fund shortages
only exacerbated these problems. It wasnt only Udayan Care that suffered
from this issue, but the whole sector faced these challenges. They could
have raised salaries to retain staff, but this required additional funding that
Udayan Care was already struggling to receive. Additional challenges that
the company faces included finding life-time volunteers to take on the role of
Mentor Parents, recruiting and retaining experienced caregivers, and
ensuring all stakeholders adopted a uniform approach to child rearing and
dealing with apathy and lack of motivation in children. Strategic operating
plans were reviewed annually, but targets were not being met. This was due
to the difficulty of finding donors, the lack of long term commitment from
funding partners, changing government rules and policies, and a scarcity of
talented and committed individuals with a clear focus and a die-hard
attitude. Funding needed to increase to meet these rising administrative
costs of hiring and expansion. Donors needed to be educated on the need to

fund administrative expenses, as it was essential to build and strengthen the


organization to grow various programs. Modi contemplated how to maintain
the pace of growth that had been achieved for the past two decades, and
needed to plan how to attract more donors to fund Udayan Care so it can
continue to help orphaned children.
There are several paths Udayan Care could choose to take to obtain
additional funding. Modi can search for other foreign NGOs that have the
same vision and passion for aiding foster children in other countries.
Collaborating with another organization would help Udayan Care expand
their program and gain additional funding. Another choice Modi had was to
capitalize on a new legislation called the Companies Act of 2013. This Act
mandated that companies of a certain size spend a minimum of two percent
of their three-year average. This would increase the donation size coming
from corporate sponsors. Modi could also choose to keep Udayan Cares
strategy the same for achieving donations, but add marketing into it. They
may start fund raising websites and events to bring attention to their cause,
and hopefully enough donations.
Udayan Care needed to make a strategy that would keep it financially
stable in the long run. Each of the options mentioned above would help Modi
gain donors for the organization. The strategy that may have the best
chances of raising the needed funding for Udayan Cares operation is to
capitalize on the Companies Act of 2013 and receive funding from
corporations that have a corporate social responsibility budget. This will also

give a tax exemption for the corporations, enticing them to donate (Bhange,
2015). If Udayan Care can obtain large corporate supporters, funding will
dramatically increase and they can raise the salaries of employees to lower
the turnover rate. Talented key employees with a higher salary wont look
elsewhere for jobs, allowing them to become passionate about Udayan
Cares long term mission. Employees who are passionate and happy with
their jobs increase productivity levels enormously. Not only would this benefit
the organization, but it will help the children to work with those who really
care.
Modi founded Udayan Care with the selflessness and care that the
organization still runs on today. Helping thousands of children across India
live happy lives and to their full potential will benefit the country as a whole.
It is strongly believed that being raised in a loving home and family is every
childs birthright. By making the right choices in their strategy to obtain
additional funding, Udayan Care can continue to grow and help less fortunate
children live the best lives they deserve.

Resources:
Bhange, Shradda. "How Can a New NGO in India Raise Funds?" Quora.com. Quora, 20 Apr.
2015. Web.
Bhargava, Antra. "Creating a System of Foster Care in India." DNA. Daily News and Analysis,
11 Sept. 2015. Web.
Devpura, Kripa. "Foster Care Takes Root in India. How Does It Differ from Adoption?" The
Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Jan. 2014. Web.
Surie, Gita. "Udayan Care: Achieving Growth In A Social Enterprise."

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