COVER STORY

MOTHER’S DAY MIRACLES

Caroline Boudreaux founded Miracle Foundation exactly twenty years ago, on Mother’s Day, 2000.

At age 28, she was an account executive at a TV station in Austin, Texas, and was making more money than she had ever dreamed of. She had the material things that seemed to define success: a beautiful home, flashy new car and active social life. But even though from the outside it looked like she’d made it, she felt empty inside.

“I was sure there had to be more to life, but I didn’t have a clue what that was,” she recalls. “I knew in my heart I had a bigger purpose that I wasn’t fulfilling.”

It was around that time she decided to take a sabbatical from her job and life. Her friend Chris Monheim (now Poynor) and she came up with the crazy idea of taking a trip around the world to chase summer for a year. They pulled out a map of the world and began plotting their course. Chris insisted that one of the stops along the way had to be India; she had been sponsoring a young boy there and wanted to meet him. Boudreaux was skeptical and thought she was wasting her money. She doubted Chris was making a difference and told her that it was a scam.

In January 2000, they set out on their global journey. By May they had made their way to India and the small, rural village where Manus, Chris’ sponsored child, lived. Upon their arrival, they received a ceremonial welcome from the entire village. Chris was absolutely thrilled to meet Manus and see how her money had been helping him and his family.

Boudreaux couldn’t believe that he was real.

Here’s the story of how a miracle was born, in Boudreaux’s words.

“We would soon learn that Manus and his family were the lucky ones.

“A few days later we were invited to dinner at the home of a local family. Nothing could have prepared us for what we were to encounter there. When we arrived, more than a hundred beautiful, hungry, smiling, parentless children greeted us. Our host, Damodar Sahoo, had taken in an orphan child nearly two decades earlier. Over the years he had continued to take in children until his “family” numbered more than a hundred.

“I had never seen an orphan before in my life. Every single one of them was vying for our attention, sometimes pushing each other out of the way for a hug from us or to touch our hands. It was overwhelming. They were the sweetest, saddest children I had ever seen. There were so many, and every single one was precious and perfect, desperately in need of love, attention – someone to care for them..

“A little girl named Sheebani came and put her head on my knee. When I picked her up, she literally pushed her body into mine, in an attempt to get the affection she lacked. I sang her a lullaby and rocked her to sleep. I went upstairs to put her into her crib, and was shocked to see that there wasn’t one. Instead, the room was filled with hard, wooden-slatted beds. No mattresses, just wooden beds that reminded me of a concentration camp.

“I gently laid Sheebani down, but when I heard her bones hit the boards, I broke. I couldn’t believe that any child had to live like this. Here I was, travelling around the world without a care, and these children were going to bed hungry and lonely every night, on hard wooden beds. I was angry, hurt, and embarrassed.

“How many more were there? Where were their parents? How could we possibly help? How could we not?

“The day was auspicious – it was Mother’s Day. Right at that moment, I decided I had to do something to help parentless children. I simply could not go on with my life as if they didn’t exist. I prayed that others would help me.

“The idea for Miracle Foundation was born that day.

“A few months later I filed the paperwork and my tiny, start-up non-profit became official. Donors stepped up immediately in order to help these vulnerable children. Miraculously, people of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all socioeconomic backgrounds have joined us on this journey over the years. Thousands of people have joined us to take a stand for orphaned children and donated to support our mission. We’re appropriately named.”

What is Miracle Foundation’s mandate?

Our mission is to support vulnerable children to have a better quality of life while bringing about sustainable change that reduces the need for orphanages.

In how many countries do you work?

Most of our work is done in India. But we have partners in many other countries benefiting from our training and our method.

In how many states/cities in India?

We have offices in Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, and Delhi. We support children all across India and are proud to do it. We continue to take care of more and more children every year. No matter where we work, the vast majority of people we encounter are unified in their desire to do what is best for children.

How big is your team in India? Does it have any local input, local members? Do you work with local partners?

There are 65 employees of Miracle Foundation in India. Many who are on the ground in the regions we work, helping children, orphanages, families and communities. Additionally, we partner with 107 orphanages and partner with many other like-minded organizations.

Is the work culturally-responsive/inclusive?

Our team in India is involved at all levels of our work from program design, strategy, implementation and evaluation to ensure decisions are made keeping local context and on-ground realities in mind.

Some examples:

Nutrition guidelines. Our robust nutrition interventions to boost children’s hemoglobin and ensure they’re getting the right macro and micronutrients revolve around using local ingredients and foods native to the region children come from, with support from local doctors. For example, jaggery to sweeten milk when children don’t want plain milk, leafy greens mixed with dal or groundnuts mixed with sweet jaggery for a healthy and tasty snack.

Local partners: We partner with local experts to provide career guidance, water quality analysis, as well as physical and mental health support instead of using international volunteers or advisors who visit only a few times and might not be aware of ground realities and needs.

Translation: Our expert trainers are from India and speak the language of the participants we train whether it’s the children, social workers, or government officials. We also translate all of our materials to the local language which includes PowerPoint, training manuals, and handouts.

What are the areas of focus in India?

Miracle Foundation is secular and rights-based. Our work is based off of two main initiatives:

Prevent children from entering the system in the first place. Every day around the world, social workers, caregivers and government officials make decisions that impact millions of vulnerable children. Partnering with UNICEF, we provide highly specialized training and educational resources for these “boots on the ground” workers in the childcare ecosystem. Through this collaboration, Miracle Foundation has trained 2300-plus government officials and caregivers and partnered with community programs that identify and support at-risk children and vulnerable families long before child placement in an orphanage becomes a necessity.

Ensure that every child thrives. All children are entitled to an education, nutrition, health and protection. Over the past twenty years, we have developed the proprietary Thrive Scale Methodology, based on the UN Rights of the Child and using this we are currently working with close to 300 orphanages to improve the lives of more than 15,000 children.

The orphanages we directly support see a 47 per cent increase in thrive scores and a 20 per cent reunification of children with their families.

How many children have been helped globally and in India since inception?

We have a robust monitoring and evaluation framework, which helps us track our impact across programs and interventions. We are happy to say that we have supported over 15,000 children since our inception...most of these children in India...and we are growing this number every day!

How have government policies on NGOs impacted the work?

The stance that the Indian government takes on children’s rights is very harmonious with the work that we do. Because the laws are based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and that is what we measure and activate, we’re on exactly the same page as the government. In fact, we’re great partners. Together, we train leaders and people on the ground to improve standards of care for children. Our model is replicable and scalable so, through partnerships with state governments across India and other NGOs, we are bringing life-changing care to vulnerable children, wherever they are. We are encouraged by the political will we are seeing to help these kids. They’re not only ensuring that policies are in place that protect children, but they’re also working with families and orphanages to affect systemic change.

How is Miracle Foundation funded?

Most of our funding comes from corporates and individual donors... people who are moved by our mission, want to make a difference and like that we can measure our success. We so value these Miracle makers who allow us to do what we do for the children. We also have a partnership with UNICEF which helps with our work with the government.

86 per cent of funds raised go directly to programs. Donations made to Miracle Foundation make a genuine difference in the lives of children. Miracle Foundation is consistently awarded the highest ratings across all charity watchdog sites so our donors can be confident that Miracle Foundation is efficient, effective and financially healthy.

Have the COVID-19 restrictions had any impact on the work?

Yes. There isn’t anyone who is exempt from COVID-19 and the impact it is making on day- today life.

In India, the government has mandated that residents remain home. Our staff is all working from home and we are using technology to still offer the same services and support to our orphanages and partners that we usually offer in person.

Our communities, who are already living under difficult circumstances, are particularly hard hit by this crisis. India has mandated that all citizens remain home for an extended period of time. This leaves many families without work and therefore without the means to feed and care for their families. The families that are left in this desperate situation are often the ones that put their child in an orphanage (a choice made out of love and to give them a chance at survival).

They urgently need our help. Our global team has worked around the clock to put together relief packages for our vulnerable families with children. $65 can provide a family of six with all the basic necessities they need in this time of crisis.

What are your future plans?

Our plan is to put ourselves out of business. We know that prevention is the key to success and there are interventions that we’re working on every day that ensure that families can stay together and that children can grow up with the love and care they deserve. We plan to continue our work helping children to have a better quality of life while ensuring that every child has an opportunity to grow up in a family. The only thing that we will change is the scale... we intend to help more and more children, families and communities until there is no longer a need for orphanages.

If you would like to help keep these and countless other children safe and families together, consider donating what you can at https://Give.MiracleFoundation.org/Covid-19.

To get involved and support Miracle Foundation and its work, visit www.MiracleFoundation.org/donate.

KALPANA’S STORY

My first memory as a child was losing my mother and my father left too. It was very painful and scary. I was taken to a child care institution in the Odisha province of India.

The reason I was there was that I had no immediate family left and my relatives couldn’t support me financially. I realized that the child care institution was the only place I could get a good education and food. For me, it became a place where I could share my happiness, my hopes and dreams, and my sorrows.

It was there that I met the founder of Miracle Foundation, Caroline Boudreaux. I always called her Caroline auntie. I was close to everyone at the institute, but a part of me always wished to be living with a family of my own. Back then, when she would visit the child care institution, she was always so loving and kind to me. We had an immediate bond, and she said she could tell that I was a leader and that I could do anything if I put my mind to it.

After my schooling, I was struggling with what career to pursue. Miracle Foundation set up a meeting for me with a career counsellor. They helped me get a scholarship and pursue my dream of becoming a nurse. Today, Miracle Foundation is my family. Whatever I accomplish or wherever I go in this world, Miracle Foundation will always be a part of my life.

• Kalpana grew up in a Miracle Foundation-supported orphanage and is now supported in her higher education.

MAKING MIRACLES, REUNITING ORPHANS WITH THEIR FAMILIES

The goal is to take care of children in real time, says Caroline Boudreaux.

“This means that if they’re living in an orphanage, the standards are high and we ensure that the kids are thriving. If a child has a family that can care for them, we help those families get their kids back and empower them to stay together. We stand for vulnerable children in India, all of them. We believe in a future where there is no longer a need for long-term child care institutions and where every child has a chance to live in a family.”

Last year, Mansi felt a ray of hope when Miracle Foundation started looking into cases at her orphanage where children could be reunited with their families. Would she finally get to be with her mother and sister after years of being apart? Mansi and her sister had been in a Miracle-mentored orphanage for five years. Their mother was a single parent and could only get seasonal work on agricultural farms. She took the agonizing decision to place her daughters under the care of an orphanage with the hope that, there, they would get an education and have a more secure future.

While the girls did well at their orphanage this small family never stopped yearning for a reunion.

The orphanage social worker made several intensive counselling visits to Mansi’s village, helping her mother access community and financial resources. With the help of her community and government support, she found the resources needed to take care of her daughters at home and ensure their education.

Mansi has been back with her mom and sister for six months. She is surrounded by the love and support of her family while still continuing her education, her hobbies and her work advocating for other kids as a Miracle youth ambassador.

“I used to wait for the day when I could be with my family and now I’m so happy to be home and with them all the time,” says Mansi.

Mansi’s journey is reflective of what many kids in orphanages want – a chance to be reunited with their families. And Miracle Foundation is committed to helping them realize this dream whenever possible.

“It has been 20 years since a little orphaned baby put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep,” says Boudreaux. “Her beauty, potential, and the trajectory of her life at that point inspired me then and continues to inspire me to this day. All children deserve the love and care of a family. Some of us grew up with that love and I always felt like it was a gift to be able to give back. In some ways, helping others is the most selfish thing I do because it is so rewarding. I used to have everything that money could buy. Today, thanks to this work and all the people that support it, I have everything that money can’t buy.