Socio-cultural Landscape and Foster Care in India
Zubair Meenai
Indian society is tremendously multifaceted and complex. There are multiple ethnic, regional, economic, religious and caste groups across the Indian nation that is also infused with inter-sectionality of gender, rural-urban and other differences. One of the defining features of these diversities is the intense hierarchical structure with strict rules for social interaction and social status.
Foster Care as a means to protect children is finding support all across the world. In the Indian conditions, it is fairly new and given the above conditions, challenging too. With the recent amendment in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, Foster Care has found a prominent place as a means of alternative care for children requiring ‘care and protection’. Keeping the socio-cultural peculiarities in view, the Centre for Early Childhood Development & Research with the support of several organisations like Save the Children, Rainbow Fostering, and Children’s Emergency Relief International etc has set up a National Resource Centre on Foster Care that is developing systems and knowledge around Foster Care in India.
This paper will attempt to delineate and highlight the challenges in the Indian context and our attempts to enhance the acceptance of Foster Care in this vast and diverse landscape.
