_The Hope Foundation works to prevent abuse and exploitation of children. Child protection is about rescuing children from starvation and providing life-saving healthcare.

It is also about responding against violence and abuse and taking action to prevent child trafficking. HOPE and our partners work to offer alternatives to child labour so children have a childhood, a time to be children.

HOPE’s Child-Watch Programme takes positive action to protect children at risk through our emergency response team. Health experts and volunteers go out on patrol every night on the streets of Kolkata, responding to those most in need.

Child Protection is a high priority for The HOPE Foundation.

Creating homes for children

The Hope Foundation was set-up with a vision to fund one home for girls. We saw the huge need to create a safe, nurturing place that restores childhood and provides supports needed by children who have suffered. The need is just as strong today.

We support eight protection homes. Three are run by Hope Kolkata Foundation (HFK), the implementing agency of The Hope Foundation in India, and five homes are run by local partner organisations.

The three protection homes HKF operates are:

Kasba Home for Girls provides complete care to 60 traumatised children who have faced acute loneliness and helplessness on the streets. The home is a shelter for children who have no parents, or who had lost valuable innocent years living on the streets. Counselling support is ongoing. Kasba is supported by The Louis & Zelie Foundation.

Boys Home: A protection home for abandoned boys, it was established in 2005. This operates 24 hours a day and provides education, health care, counselling, recreation, yoga and life skills training. There are 30 boys in the home and 11 at boarding school. Purchase and running costs funded by John Ronan, Treasury Holdings.

Adolescent Girls Home: Panditya Place is home to 40 girls. Funded by Mairead Sorensen, Butlers Chocolates and the HOPE Dublin Committee, the children are provided with shelter, nutrition, clothing, education, health, counselling, recreational activities and life skills training in a caring and secure environment.

Watch all of our videos from Kolkata here.