Kinship Care is a unit of Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust
Growing up as a child without the love and affection of one or both parents is indeed unfortunate; the pain is more if you are from a socially and economically disadvantaged family. This campaign is to get kind hearted souls to donate to help us support and rebuild the lives of such children. In many cases, the breadwinner has passed away and the children and mother are staring at a bleak future.
The Kinship Care (KC) programme was started in July 2021, after the devastation caused by Covid to support children who had lost one or both parents. Over time KC has evolved and is now more inclusive, supporting non Covid deaths also. We support 1450 children from 830 families in 14 districts; we’ll continue to support these children till they grow up and settle down.
Through Kinship Care we provide holistic care and support to the children, to enable them to realise their potential. All children are part of the “Virtual" Bala Mandir Home and benefit from the following initiatives:
| Programmes | Impact |
|---|---|
| Early Childhood support | Parents are able to deal with children calmly and with confidence |
| Payment of part of the school fees + Van/Auto | Ensures no child drops out of school. |
| Online volunteer support | The children improve foundational skills in English, Tamil and Maths |
| Tracking of academic performance | Children needing extra help identified and supported |
| Kai-Mel-Kalvi (KMK) –" Tab" based programme | Children practice and learn maths with the help of mentors |
| Advanced training for children with high potential | Bright kids coached online to prepare for competitive exams. |
| Support for children with special needs | Special support on need basis. |
| Counselling of mothers | Gives hope and confidence to face the world |
| Helping cope with adolescent issues | Mothers get help to deal with adolescence issues |
| Livelihood support + skilling the mothers | Helps mothers augment their income, increasing their confidence. |
| Nurturing children with special talent | Special support on need basis. |
| Creating community support through meetings | The families get to know and support each other |
| Annual medical check ups | Helps identify medical issues. Gives confidence to the family. |
| Emergency help for the families. | Social Workers are with the families in times of need. |
| Monthly mobile top up | Essential need for online classes. |
The Kinship Care programme has given hope and confidence to a large number of families as seen from these short 1 min videos.
The value the beneficiaries get out of the Kinship Care programme is well above the average cost of supporting a child. Many of the programs being run for the benefit of the children and families are volunteer driven - by other NGOs and non profit organisations. At present the average cost of supporting a child is Rs 20,000 per annum. The breakup of the cost is as follows:
| Sl | Particulars | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | School Fees | 14,000 |
| 2 | Social worker support | 4,000 |
| 3 | Events + Admin costs | 2,000 |
| Total Cost per child | 20,000 |
Bala Mandir’s unique Kinship Care programme is having a major impact in the lives of the children who have lost one or both parents. May I appeal to you to sponsor at least one child, which will cost Rs. 20,000 only per annum. Bala Mandir will send you the profile of the child you sponsor and keep you updated on this child’s progress.
Of course, smaller contributions are also welcome.
All your donations would be eligible for tax deduction under Sec 80G of IT Act.
Following is the current district wise headcount of children who are benefitting from the Kinship Care programme. There are plans to grow the programme to other areas.
Within 2 weeks of the payments being realised
All your donations would be eligible for tax deduction under Sec 80G of IT Act.
Bala Mandir is a long standing charitable institution which is fully compliant with all laws and has all necessary approvals. All its activities including the Kinship Care programme are CSR compliant. Bala Mandir CSR-1 No. is CSR00008002.
YES, Cheques can be made in favour of "Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust" and reached to the Bala Mandir Office at - New No.8, (Old No. 126), GN Chetty Road, Chennai 600 017. Ph: 044-48679207, Mobile: 9003164447 OR, Directly Deposited at any IDFC Branch. SB A/c. No. : 10062871336, IFSC Code : IDFB0080128.
YES. You can scan the QR code on our web page and make the payment.
YES. The bank transfer details are given below.
YES. The online link for these is provided.
Yes. Bala Mandir USA is a an organisation registered under Sec 501 (c) (3). Please visit Bala Mandir USA
YES. The Kinship Care programmes promise support for the children in the future years also. Hence we welcome endowments which would ensure that the support for the children can be ensured in the future also. The endowments can be given a name of donor’s choice and a sizeable corpus can be built over time with regular top ups over time. The top up can be done by any other donors – friends and families of the original donor.
YES. Over time the proportion of non-covid death is increasing and now 20% of children are from families which are non-covid cases.
Till they are able to stand on their own. This period is not specifically defined and we hope to evolve processes for supporting the children even after they move out of school.
It is an important support, but KC program is all about holistic support to the beneficiaries. Our social workers are seen as extended members of the families of the children.
We have a custom-built software called Dhruva K which is used by the Social Workers to track the day to day developments that happen in the project. All aspects of the child development and the programme is entered into Dhruva and the data is accessible to the Social workers through cloud servers even when they are on the move.
We have virtual (weekly) meetings between management and the social workers; we schedule periodic physical meetings; we hold district wise annual meetings with the families; we have a plan for each child – individual child plan. We run age-appropriate programs with the help of volunteers. All our services and programs are monitored and reviewed constantly. Apart from the field social workers, every child / family is assigned a remote social worker to call and track the progress. There is also an internal audit system that has been put in place.
Donors get regular updates about the program, including progress and status of the child/children they have sponsored. We also share details of the overall program status including Annual Reports.
olunteers who are willing to commit to supporting children in middle school through WhatsApp calls could register for the Happy Reading programme. Basic knowledge of spoken Tamil will be needed to interact with the parents and there is a need to commit 1 hour time in the evening of India time, 2 days a week.
YES. Please get in touch with us and we will be delighted to explain the opportunities available.
Please get in touch with us by writing a mail or by phone and we can take it from there.