Care & Protection of Children

Program / Center	Glimpse of Activity	Description / Activity Name
Anwesha Child Protection Centre – Open Shelter for Girls & Boys		Observation of ‘World Mental Health Day’ in Anwesha Open Shelter
Anwesha Children’s Home for Girls		Observation of International Women’s Day in Anwesha Children’s Home for Girls
Unmesh Children Home for Boys		Health Checkup in Unmesh Children’s Home for Boys
Manorama Shishu Niketan – Children’s Home for Girls		Celebration of International Mother Language Day in Manorama Shishu Niketan
Family Based Alternative Care of Children in Need		Orientation Training by FS-FBAC project run by VHAT

Anwesha Child Protection Centre is a combination of two separate entities; Open Shelter for Girls (capacity – 25 Girls) and Open Shelter for Boys (for 25 Boys). The orphanage located in Agartala, West Tripura, managed by the Voluntary Health Association of Tripura (VHAT). Operating for care and overall development of orphan and underprivileged children, the home provides essential foundational needs, including shelter, care, protection, health, education, and nutrition.

Target Groups:

Children of 5 – 18 years age group of the following categories were the beneficiaries of the project:

• Orphaned Children
• Street Children (rag pickers, beggars etc.)
• Victims of any drug addictions
• Abandoned Children
• Victims of Violence / Abuse
• AIDS Victim
• Any child eligible for getting emergency services.

The children received holistic care and educational support focused on their overall development. Key highlights include:

• Dedicated Guidance: A diverse team—including House Parents, medical staff, social workers, and tutors, supervised and supported the children's daily needs and academics.
• Skill Building: Beyond regular education, children were provided with a computer lab for technical skills and received age-appropriate Life Skill Education.
• Cultural Participation: The children actively celebrated national days by engaging in various cultural activities.

Key Activities and Celebrations:

Throughout the year, both the centres jointly organized a variety of events aimed at the cultural, educational, and physical development of the children:

• Patriotic & Cultural Celebrations: The centre fostered a sense of national identity and heritage through major events like Bengali New Year, Republic Day, and Netaji’s Birthday. These featured flag-hoisting ceremonies, traditional music, dance, and historical speeches.
• Health & Wellness: A strong emphasis was placed on holistic well-being, including International Yoga Day sessions, mental health workshops for adolescents, and practical hygiene demonstrations for Global Hand-washing Day.
• Medical Care: Professional outreach included individual dental check-ups during World Oral Health Day to ensure the children's physical maintenance.
• Environmental & Social Awareness: Children engaged in environmental advocacy on World Environment Day and promoted integrity during Vigilance Awareness Week through creative projects like placards and slogans.
• Youth Empowerment: Celebrations such as National Youth Day and Children’s Day focused on the teachings of figures like Swami Vivekananda, encouraging students to showcase their talents in yoga, sports, and the arts.

The centre provided a well-rounded year of programming that combined cultural enrichment, preventative healthcare, and social responsibility, ensuring children developed both physically and intellectually alongside their peers.

Oral Health Check - up

On National Sports Day

Anwesha Children Home for Girls a registered CCI under the J.J. Act, Ministry of Women & Child Development for 50 girl children. It provides long term shelter for orphaned and underprivileged girls till completion of 18 years of age. The mission of this CCI was to rescue and protect children from the trauma of physical and sexual abuse, extreme neglect, being abandoned and being a victim or witness of domestic violence.

Children were provided shelter, nutrition, education, basic computer knowledge, recreation, medical support and life skill education. To provide a variety of experiences to children, Anwesha Home had undertaken activities like free and structured conversation, rhymes, songs, story-telling, story making, music, indoor play activities with blocks, beads, puzzles, outdoor games and outdoor activities including free play running, jumping, hopping, balancing, sand play and gardening. The wall magazine “Anweshon” was published on quarterly basis by the children. All the stories, poems and drawings were written by the children by their own efforts for this wall magazine.

Children were involved in following Key Developmental Activities:

• Education: All children were enrolled in three government schools.
• Household Chores: Participating in some household chores which helped children learn about what they need to do to care for themselves and a family.
• Counselling & Emotional Well-being: Peer counselling in individual situations.
• Training & Capacity Building: To encourage the leadership to evaluate their abilities to perform in a complex environment.
• Life Skill Training: On decision-making, creative thinking, interpersonal relationship skills, self-awareness building skills, empathy and coping with stress and emotions.
• Co-curricular Activities: Dance, yoga, meditation, painting competitions as well as other recreational activities.
• Pre-Vocational Training: In stitching and handicrafts, kitchen garden and animal rearing.
• Computer Education / Digital Literacy
• Meaningful Engagement: Engaging children in meaningful activities was the pivotal part of the program e.g. preparing wall magazine, psychosocial activities that improved personal and social skills, alternative learning, physical activities, games and fun.

Medical Care and Services Provided:

Individual medical file was maintained for all the children. Following were the medical services provided to the children:

• Monthly height-weight and BMI record keeping
• Immunization as per government schedule
• Monthly Health Check-up and treatment
• Annual Dental and ENT check-up
• Vision Test, Emergency Medical care
• Counselling & psychosocial interventions as per need

Health & Medical Screening Session

Annual Eye and Vision Checkup

Key Activities and Celebrations:

Throughout the year, the home organized a variety of events aimed at the cultural, educational, and physical development of the children:

All these events provided the opportunity to participate, awareness building and intellectuality enhancement of the inmate children of Anwesha Children’s Home.

Celebration of Independence Day 2026

Global Hand Washing Day

Celebration of Children’s Day

Indoor Game Competition

National Youth Day

Unmesh Children Home for Boys in East Gokulnagar, Sepahijala District was started by VHAT for 50 children from September 2018. It was registered under Juvenile Justice Act-2015, under Ministry of Women and Child Development on 7th June, 2019. During 2025-2026, Children were coming to this home from various districts of Tripura with order from the respective Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Beside the regular school education, all the Children were engaged in different co-curricular activities like yoga, sports, gardening, music, drama and drawing. In the year 2025-26 following activities were performed by the inmate children with help from CCI authority, in Unmesh Home:

• Regular monthly health check-up and treatment: To all the children were provided by Medical team of Bishalgarh Hospital. One residential GNM (Nurse) was taking care of the health of the children.
• Home visit & reintegration: This year, 30 children were reintegrated to the families or extended families after the social investigation of the family situation and counselling of both children and family members. The SIRs (social investigation reports) and counselling were done by the Case Worker and the Counsellor of the CCI. Shifting and reintegration was done with the orders from the Child Welfare Committees.

Celebration of Significant Days:

Educational Tour to Rabindranath Thakur Mahavidyalay, Bishalgarh

Drawing Competition on Veer Bal Diwas

National Science Day celebration

Sports Day in Unmesh Home

Manorama Shishu Niketan, a Children’s Home for Girls managed by the Voluntary Health Association of Tripura in West Lowgang village, South Tripura District. The institution stands as a beacon of hope and empowerment for girls in vulnerable situations, delivering holistic care, education, health, and nutritional support. Our commitment was to cultivate a nurturing environment that allowed each child to flourish socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Through engaging programs and dedicated staff, we foster resilience, independence, and the skills necessary for future success.

Targeted children for Manorama Home are the Children of 7-18 year of age group and belong to following categories:

• Orphaned Children
• Victims of violence/abuse
• Street children (rag pickers, beggars, etc)
• Victims of any drug addictions
• Abandoned Children
• POCSO victims
• HIV / AIDS victim

Enrollment Milestone:

During this year we have provided shelter to 9 (nine) new children. 3 (three) Children reunified with their respective families and 6 (six) Children shifted to alternative care. Most importantly 2 Children adopted through Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). Our current number of inmates had reached 44 vibrant young minds, all actively pursuing education in local government schools as follows:

Class II – 01 child, Class III – 02 children, Class IV – 02 children, Class V – 09 children, Class VI – 07 children, Class VII – 02 children, Class VIII – 07 children, Class IX – 04 children, Class X – 04 children, Class XII – 04 children. Regular academic supervision and educational support were provided to ensure continuity in learning and scholastic development.

Vibrant Celebrations and Enriching Activities at CCI:

Apart from academics and regular day to day needful activities, it has been a Year of Cultural, Environmental, and Educational Engagement.

The key events of Cultural and Literary Celebrations:

• 09 May 2025: Rabindra Jayanti
• 26 May 2025: Nazrul Jayanti
• 26 September 2025: Birth Anniversary of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
• 06 October 2025: Lakshmi Puja
• 23 January 2026: Saraswati Puja
• 21 February 2026: International Mother Language Day

Children actively participated in cultural performances and literary activities to promote creativity and appreciation of heritage.

Health Camp at MSN on 18-07-2025

Lighting of torch, Sports Festival held on 16-08-2025

Inmates performed during Unity March on 14-11-2025

Environmental & Hygiene Awareness:

• 05 June 2025: World Environment Day
• 15 October 2025: Global Hand Washing Day
• 19, 25 & 31 October 2025: Swachhata Hi Seva Campaign

National Pride and Civic Values:

• 15 August 2025: Independence Day Celebration
• 02 October 2025: Gandhi Jayanti
• 20 November 2025: Universal Children’s Day
• 26 November 2025: Constitution Day of India
• 26 December 2025: Veer Bal Diwas
• 12 January 2026: Swami Vivekananda Jayanti
• 23 January 2026: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti
• 26 January 2026: Republic Day

Health, Wellness, and Physical Development:

• 21 June 2025: International Yoga Day Observation
• 27 September 2025: Medical Camp under CSR Initiative of Oil India “SPARSH”
• 19 March 2026: Medical Camp Conducted
• 16, 17 & 20 August 2025: Sports Festival Observation

Awareness, Protection & Social Development:

• 25 April 2025: Regional Workshop on Awareness Generation and Prevention of Human Trafficking
• 10 June 2025: Nasha Mukt Bharat Pledge Taking Ceremony
• 30 November 2025: Child Marriage Free Bharat Awareness Program
• 15 March 2026: International Women’s Day Observation

Special Initiative:

Wall Magazine – “Anuranan”: During the reporting year, the wall magazine Anuranan was published on four occasions, providing inmates with a creative platform to express their thoughts, ideas, and artistic talents. The 4th edition was released on World Environment Day, the 5th edition on National Sports Day, the 6th edition on 26 September 2025 commemorating the birth anniversary of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and the 7th edition on International Women’s Day. Through these editions, inmates poured their imagination into writing, drawing, and designing content, fostering creativity, awareness, and self-expression.

Family Strengthening & Family-Based Alternative Care (FS-FBAC) project, implemented by the Voluntary Health Association of Tripura with support from Miracle Foundation India, was a comprehensive initiative aimed at ensuring children grow up in safe, nurturing, family-based environments. Since its inception in 2018, the project has been focusing on preventing family separation, strengthening vulnerable households, and reintegrating children from Child Care Institutions (CCIs) back into their communities.

Project activities were being implemented as per the UN Guidelines for Alternative Care of Children, where it stated that: “Family is the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth, well-being and protection of children, and efforts should be primarily directed to enabling the child to remain in or return to the care of his/her parents, or when appropriate, other close family members.”

The project has been implemented in three (3) blocks in West Tripura District- Mohanpur, Bamutia, and Jirania and in Sepahijala-& Bishalgarh and Boxanagar blocks. Within each block, three vulnerable panchayats were identified as hotspots, making a total of 15 panchayats across the two districts.

Approach / Strategy:

1. Home visits and family crisis intervention: regular visits to the homes of children placed in our care (CCIs) to assess family dynamics and address any crises or challenges they may be facing.
2. Social Investigation Reports to understand the root causes of family separation and identify the necessary interventions to facilitate reintegration, the report was prepared.
3. Focusing of five well-being domains: family well-being, economic stability, access to education and health care, social support networks, safe and stable housing, and emotional well-being.
4. Continuous Follow-Up and Family Support
5. Mental Health focus: counselling, therapy and psychosocial support to promote healing, resilience and positive mental health outcomes.
6. Community Awareness activities: raising awareness within communities about the importance of family-based care for children, through workshops, seminars and outreach initiatives. Another aim was to educate people in the community about the benefits of various government schemes for providing benefits to the children.
7. Prevention of Institutionalization: It was aimed to keep children within their families or place them in alternative family-based care arrangements.
8. Gate keeping: By identifying vulnerable families early on, to provide them with necessary support and resources to prevent the unnecessary placement of children in institutions.
9. Awareness for Adolescents: to address issues such as Child Marriage and other forms of exploitation as per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
10. Enhancing Reporting Mechanisms: for community members to report cases of child abuse, neglect or exploitation through help lines, online platforms, and community-based reporting systems.
11. Child Participation: Children to be involved in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Attempts were to empower children to express their views, preferences and concerns, ensuring that their voices were heard and respected.

Key Achievements & Interventions (April 2025 to March 2026):

• Outreach: In West Tripura District reached 126 vulnerable families and 179 children and in Sepahijala District it has supported 48 vulnerable families and 79 children.
• Social Reintegration: Successfully reintegrated 18 children from the Anwesha Child Care Institution into their families through rigorous counselling and follow-up.
• Community Mechanisms:
  • Established 15 Bal Panchayats (9 in West Tripura, 6 in Sepahijala) to foster child leadership and participation.
  • Formed and strengthened 15 Child Welfare & Protection Committees (CWPCs) to enhance local safeguarding.
• Family & Educational Support: Provided Individual Care Plans (ICP), Life Skill Education (LSE), and ensured zero school dropouts among target children.
• Essential Services: Conducted health camps in both the districts and distributed clothes, educational materials, ration support, and livelihood assistance to promote family self-reliance.

Conclusion:

The FS-FBAC project implemented by Voluntary Health Association of Tripura has made significant progress in ensuring that children grow up in safe family environments. Through integrated efforts in family strengthening, reintegration, and community prevention, the project continues to build a protective ecosystem for children in Tripura.

Child Marriage Prevention Campaign at Fatikcherra Gram Panchayat

Child Rights & Prevention Campaign in Schools

Participants of Training on Family Strengthening

Panchayat Level Immersion Visit

ToT for Balmitra on LSE