Twelve children, eight girls and four boys aged 15 and below, from childcare institutes in Ernakulam district under the Kerala Women and Child Development department, were sent out on vacation foster care (VFC) to as many families during the just-concluded summer vacation.
Though there were more applications, a few families had to be turned down since the children identified were reluctant, while in two other cases, families dropped out after they could not find children aged less than 10 years, as they preferred. Notwithstanding wider publicity, the number of children benefitting from being part of joyful, functional families under the VFC has more or less remained around 12 to 13.
Children aged between 6 and 18 in childcare institutes in the district are considered for VFC. There are nearly 900 children in 49 child care institutes in Ernakulam. Children who are either orphans or cannot return to their families during the two-month-long vacation are made available for the program, subject to their consent. In rare cases, the VFC has led to long-term foster care, like in the case of a 12-year-old orphaned girl whose foster care was extended by the family last year.
“Long-term foster care has to be renewed every six months. After two years, the family can adopt the child by following due process, including registering at the Central Adoption Resource Authority,” said Staicy Manjooran, Program Officer (Non-institutional Care, District Child Protection Unit (DCPU).
Both in vacation and long-term foster care, inquiry officers of the DCPU conduct a home study of the potential foster family, prepare a social investigation report, and investigate the financial and medical backgrounds before allotting children. In VFC, fortnightly inquiries are conducted to ensure the well-being of the children.
“We also counsel children before sending them to families under VFC, clarifying that they must return to the institute at the end of the vacation. The experience has been, by and large, cheerful for both the children and the families, notwithstanding adjustment issues in some cases. Often, a bond develops between children and their foster parents, making separation at the end of the vacation very emotional,” said Ms. Manjooran.
There are also instances in which fostering families return asking for the same children in successive years. Two children were sent out on VFC to the same families this year, pointing at the lasting emotional bond created through VFC, which was launched in the district around four years ago.
Published – June 12, 2025 11:48 am IST