Shree(God) Vatsa(Children)

Till the early seventies, babies found abandoned in Pune were brought by the police to the Sassoon General Hospitals and admitted in the Pediatric ward as ‘Lodger Babies’. The nursing staff in the pediatric ward found it difficult to care for such babies in addition to their normal work schedule. A majority of these babies used to die due to infections contracted in the ward itself. In 1973, the then dean of Sassoon General Hospitals requested SOFOSH to take over the care of these ‘Lodger Babies’. Thus Shreevatsa (Children of God), the childcare centre was born on 6^th October 1973.

Today, about 60 children between the ages of 1 day to 6 years are cared for at Shreevatsa. The Juvenile Welfare Board refers abandoned children to Shreevatsa. In addition, unwed mothers, new born / older children of parents, whose seriously ill parents admitted to Sassoon wards are unable to look after them as they have no one to look after the children at home. All the children at Shreevatsa are provided love, and care, irrespective of caste, colour or creed. Medical care is also provided to the children.

The number of children had been growing over the years, resulting in shortage of space. Additional space was provided on the floor above by the then Dean, Dr. Mridula Phadke. A Neonatal Unit named ‘Tehmi Ann Nursery’ was set up here. The Nursery is named after two of Shreevatsa’s devoted volunteers, Tehmi Karbari and Anne Rogers.

 In the early days, no standard procedures and norms for adoption existed in Pune region or even in the whole country. SOFOSH hosted the first two inter-agency meetings with a view to setting up standard procedures to promote adoptions in our own country. This voluntary participation of all agencies ultimately led to the setting up of a VCA (Voluntary Coordinating Agency) in 1982. SOFOSH was a proactive participant at the beginning of the movement and has continued to be an active member of VCA, Pune.

Since its inception, Shreevatsa has looked after more than 3000 children and placed more than 2278 children in adoption. Majority of the adoptions are domestic and a small but a noticeable number in foreign as well. In adoption, we realize, we are taking care of tip of the iceberg underneath which lies the problem of the pregnanant women deserted by the putative father of the child, who were often turned down by their families. With no support and shelter & full of fear of social humiliation, their only option available is to abandon their child, sometimes in very cruel circumstances. So providing counselling, nutritional care, arranging for shelter & family life, education, group therapy, support during childbirth, and rehabilitation of the girl after delivery (with or without her child, depending on her decision) became very important service of SOFOSH. Indeed in few cases we have even succeeded in arranging marriages of our unwed mother to the putative father of her child. We also support a few of them claiming compensation through mediations, police or court. We have made every effort for the mother to be able to keep her child with herself if she wants. We help to counsel the family so that they could overcome the anger and accept their daughter back in the family. When this is not possible we rehabilitate her through suitable employment.

We supply weekly nutrition consisting of eggs, pulses, fruits, green leafy vegetables, and carbohydrates to affected children to combat malnutrition. Weight of the child is checked periodically to ensure the progress & counselling in all respect including hygiene, home nursing, low-cost balanced diet, family planning, illness-diet is given to ensure healthy living.