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Sri Arunodayam’s New Home for Abandoned Girls with Intellectual Disabilities (ID)
About Sri Arunodayam
Sri Arunodayam as a home for abandoned children with intellectual disabilities (ID), came into existence in 2002 on account of the despicable practices of families abandoning their vulnerable children due to ignorance, poverty, social stigma, and a general lack of moral conscience that has never been justly disciplined through a strict moral code to safeguard our country’s most vulnerable citizens. Children continue to be found in public places such as hospitals, bus and railway stations, and even dustbins! The Departments of Social Defence and Social Welfare, Child Welfare Committees, and India's ChildLine are the conduits through which such children are brought to our home where they are nurtured, loved, restored to health, and rehabilitated.
Sri Arunodayam is one among very few “residential” homes across the country providing this service. Most homes act as day care centers funded by parents. Sri Arunodayam on the other hand, assumes life-long responsibility, nurturing these children in a safe and permanent shelter with nutritious food, medical aid, special education, physiotherapy, vocational training and related rehabilitative therapies. Thus, over the years, Sri Arunodayam has transformed into a “residential cum rehabilitation” home, providing holistic therapies to children, making them more confident and self-reliant.
Sri Arunodayam focuses on providing these children with five main Quality of Life (QoL) measures as mandated by the World Health Organization (WHO): (1) Medical care (addressing functional/organic limitations); (2) Physical care (addressing physical performance/capacity through proven and tested physiotherapy methods); (3) Psychological care (addressing intelligence, aptitudes, interests, etc.); (4) Special Education (addressing personal, social and academic knowledge); and (5) Vocational Training (addressing skills, aptitudes, occupational abilities, etc.). Keenly aware that each area significantly impacts the overall QoL, Sri Arunodayam seeks to act as a conscientious parent and provide every opportunity for its children to enhance all areas of their life.
Since its inception, Sri Arunodayam has rescued around 350 abandoned children with ID, of which 89 have been reunited with their parents, especially as the organization believes that the family set-up is still the best environment for a child to grow up in. Every attempt is made to trace a child’s family, and repentant parents are counselled, guided, and supported to accept and nurture their children with a renewed sense of responsibility and respect.
For its outstanding work with abandoned children with ID, the organization was recognized as a Reception Unit by the State Government of Tamil Nadu in 2008 and continues to receive several humanitarian awards each year.
For more information on Sri Arunodayam’s many recognitions and accreditations, visit: https://sriarunodayam.org/our-story/
To know everything about Sri Arunodayam, visit: https://sriarunodayam.org/
About Sri Arunodayam’s ‘New Home for Girls’ Project
Abandonment and abuse of children in India is on the rise. Estimates say that India has over 12 million children living with disabilities. According to UN Enable, these children are at a 1.7 times greater risk of being subjected to some form of violence. CRIN says that 50% of children with a hearing impairment and 60% of those with an intellectual impairment are sexually abused. Only 1% have access to school, and 90% will not survive past the age of 20!
With a growing percentage of abandoned children with ID in our country, duty bearers including our Government, Non-Government Organizations, local communities and citizens have the moral responsibility of protecting the rights of vulnerable children. Yet, despite several well-established national frameworks to protect them, these institutions have limited impact at ground level. Society’s failure to protect its children, especially the abandoned, has enabled the scourge of abuse, abandonment, and trafficking.
Sri Arunodayam receives around 20 requests a month for shelter, but as both our existing homes have reached full capacity, we are unable to accommodate more children. Yet, wanting to do our bit, we commenced the construction of a 13,168 sq.ft ‘residential cum rehabilitation’ home that will be able to shelter an additional 100+ children, by end 2021. This construction commenced on August 28, 2019 on Sri Arunodayam’s plot of land situated on the shore of a small lake at Kallikuppam, Kolathur. We are approaching corporates and HNIs to help support this critical work.
Our objective in building this new home is simple - we cannot save all the abandoned children with ID in India, or even in our own State of Tamil Nadu, but we want to save at least 100 more than we have today! Our foundation is built on humanitarian values that uphold the dignity and rights of such children and we want to provide them with the same opportunities that normal children receive, so that they too may experience content and purposeful lives. Although they may be abandoned by their families, they have inviolable fundamental rights. Our rehabilitation programs can help them become self-reliant, confident, and productive members of society.
Post construction, we will begin inducting 100+ new entrants as we work together with the Departments of Social Defence and Social Welfare, Child Welfare Committees and India’s ChildLine Services.
About Sri Arunodayam
Sri Arunodayam as a home for abandoned children with intellectual disabilities (ID), came into existence in 2002 on account of the despicable practices of families abandoning their vulnerable children due to ignorance, poverty, social stigma, and a general lack of moral conscience that has never been justly disciplined through a strict moral code to safeguard our country’s most vulnerable citizens. Children continue to be found in public places such as hospitals, bus and railway stations, and even dustbins! The Departments of Social Defence and Social Welfare, Child Welfare Committees, and India's ChildLine are the conduits through which such children are brought to our home where they are nurtured, loved, restored to health, and rehabilitated.
Sri Arunodayam is one among very few “residential” homes across the country providing this service. Most homes act as day care centers funded by parents. Sri Arunodayam on the other hand, assumes life-long responsibility, nurturing these children in a safe and permanent shelter with nutritious food, medical aid, special education, physiotherapy, vocational training and related rehabilitative therapies. Thus, over the years, Sri Arunodayam has transformed into a “residential cum rehabilitation” home, providing holistic therapies to children, making them more confident and self-reliant.
Sri Arunodayam focuses on providing these children with five main Quality of Life (QoL) measures as mandated by the World Health Organization (WHO): (1) Medical care (addressing functional/organic limitations); (2) Physical care (addressing physical performance/capacity through proven and tested physiotherapy methods); (3) Psychological care (addressing intelligence, aptitudes, interests, etc.); (4) Special Education (addressing personal, social and academic knowledge); and (5) Vocational Training (addressing skills, aptitudes, occupational abilities, etc.). Keenly aware that each area significantly impacts the overall QoL, Sri Arunodayam seeks to act as a conscientious parent and provide every opportunity for its children to enhance all areas of their life.
Since its inception, Sri Arunodayam has rescued around 350 abandoned children with ID, of which 89 have been reunited with their parents, especially as the organization believes that the family set-up is still the best environment for a child to grow up in. Every attempt is made to trace a child’s family, and repentant parents are counselled, guided, and supported to accept and nurture their children with a renewed sense of responsibility and respect.
For its outstanding work with abandoned children with ID, the organization was recognized as a Reception Unit by the State Government of Tamil Nadu in 2008 and continues to receive several humanitarian awards each year.
For more information on Sri Arunodayam’s many recognitions and accreditations, visit: https://sriarunodayam.org/our-story/
To know everything about Sri Arunodayam, visit: https://sriarunodayam.org/
About Sri Arunodayam’s ‘New Home for Girls’ Project
Abandonment and abuse of children in India is on the rise. Estimates say that India has over 12 million children living with disabilities. According to UN Enable, these children are at a 1.7 times greater risk of being subjected to some form of violence. CRIN says that 50% of children with a hearing impairment and 60% of those with an intellectual impairment are sexually abused. Only 1% have access to school, and 90% will not survive past the age of 20!
With a growing percentage of abandoned children with ID in our country, duty bearers including our Government, Non-Government Organizations, local communities and citizens have the moral responsibility of protecting the rights of vulnerable children. Yet, despite several well-established national frameworks to protect them, these institutions have limited impact at ground level. Society’s failure to protect its children, especially the abandoned, has enabled the scourge of abuse, abandonment, and trafficking.
Sri Arunodayam receives around 20 requests a month for shelter, but as both our existing homes have reached full capacity, we are unable to accommodate more children. Yet, wanting to do our bit, we commenced the construction of a 13,168 sq.ft ‘residential cum rehabilitation’ home that will be able to shelter an additional 100+ children, by end 2021. This construction commenced on August 28, 2019 on Sri Arunodayam’s plot of land situated on the shore of a small lake at Kallikuppam, Kolathur. We are approaching corporates and HNIs to help support this critical work.
Our objective in building this new home is simple - we cannot save all the abandoned children with ID in India, or even in our own State of Tamil Nadu, but we want to save at least 100 more than we have today! Our foundation is built on humanitarian values that uphold the dignity and rights of such children and we want to provide them with the same opportunities that normal children receive, so that they too may experience content and purposeful lives. Although they may be abandoned by their families, they have inviolable fundamental rights. Our rehabilitation programs can help them become self-reliant, confident, and productive members of society.
Post construction, we will begin inducting 100+ new entrants as we work together with the Departments of Social Defence and Social Welfare, Child Welfare Committees and India’s ChildLine Services.
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| Total Sq. Ft. | Cost Per Sq. Ft. (in INR) | Total Cost (in INR) |
| 13,168 | 2500/- | 3,29,20,000/- (Rupees Three Crores, Twenty Nine Lakhs and Twenty Thousand Only) |
| No. | Project Activity/Component | Total Sq.ft. | Amount (in INR) |
| ESSENTIAL ROOMS | |||
| First Floor | |||
| 1 | Special Education Classroom 1 | 2500/- x 445 sq. ft. | 11,12,500 |
| 2 | Special Education Classroom 2 | 2500/- x 445 sq. ft. | 11,12,500 |
| 3 | Special Education Classroom 3 | 2500/- x 445 sq. ft. | 11,12,500 |
| 4 | Medical Stores | 2500/- x 114 sq. ft. | 2,85,000 |
| 5 | Doctor’s Consultation Room | 2500/- x 124 sq. ft. | 3,10,000 |
| 6 | Medical Treatment Room | 2500/- x 173 sq. ft. | 4,32,500 |
| 7 | Physiotherapy Room | 2500/- x 298 sq. ft. | 7,45,000 |
| 8 | Children’s Recreation Room | 2500/- x 230 sq. ft. | 5,75,000 |
| 9 | Staff Room 1 - (Physiotherapists) | 2500/- x 100 sq. ft. | 2,50,000 |
| 10 | Staff Room 2 - (Special Educators) | 2500/- x 93 sq. ft. | 2,32,500 |
| A | First Floor - Total Construction Cost | 61,67,500 | |
| Second Floor | |||
| 11 | Children’s Dormitory 1 (Infirmary) | 2500/- x 445 sq. ft. | 11,12,500 |
| 12 | Children’s Dormitory 2 (Bedridden) | 2500/- x 445 sq. ft. | 11,12,500 |
| 13 | Children’s Dormitory 3 (Toddlers) | 2500/- x 445 sq. ft. | 11,12,500 |
| 14 | Children’s Dormitory 4 (Teenagers) | 2500/- x 336 sq. ft. | 8,40,000 |
| 15 | Children’s Dormitory 5 (Above 18) | 2500/- x 230 sq. ft. | 5,75,000 |
| 16 | Vocational Training Center | 2500/- x 298 sq.ft. | 7,45,000 |
| 17 | Pantry | 2500/- x 63 sq.ft. | 1,57,500 |
| 18 | Girls Dressing Room | 2500/- x 60 sq.ft. | 1,50,000 |
| 19 | Staff Room 3 – (Caregivers & Medical Staff) | 2500/- x 195 sq.ft. | 4,87,500 |
| B | Second Floor – Total Construction Cost | 62,92,500 | |
| Ground Floor | |||
| 20 | Children’s Dining Area | 2500/- x 2322 sq.ft. | 58,05,000 |
| 21 | Coffin/Quarantine Room | 2500/- x 54 sq.ft. | 1,35,000 |
| C | Ground Floor – Total Construction Cost | 59,40,000 | |
| D | Total Construction Cost Of Essential Rooms [A + B + C] | 1,84,00,000 | |
| No. | Other Essential Spaces | Total Sq.ft. | Cost |
| 22 | Lift Lobby (Ground + 2 levels) | 2500/- x 201 sq.ft. | 5,02,500 |
| 23 | Lift (Ground + 2 levels) | 2500/- x 161 sq.ft. | 4,02,400 |
| 24 | Founder’s Room | 2500/- x 224 sq.ft. | 5,60,000 |
| 25 | Administrative Office Area | 2500/- x 160 sq.ft. | 4,00,000 |
| 26 | Materials/Store Room | 2500/- x 211 sq.ft. | 5,27,500 |
| 27 | Pantry Stores | 2500/- x 64 sq.ft. | 1,60,000 |
| 28 | Janitor’s Store Room | 2500/- x 26 sq.ft. | 65,000 |
| E | Essential Spaces – Total Cost: | 26,17,400 | |
| 29 | Children’s Bath/Wash Rooms | 2500/- x 853 sq.ft | 21,32,500 |
| 30 | Staff/Visitor Toilets (1st Floor) | 2500/- x 625 sq.ft. | 15,62,500 |
| 31 | Staff/Visitor Toilets (2nd Floor) | 2500/- x 31 sq.ft. | 77,500 |
| 32 | Visitor Toilets (Ground Floor) | 2500/- x 96 sq.ft. | 2,40,000 |
| F | Toilets/Washrooms – Total Construction Cost: | 40,12,500 | |
| G | Additional rehabilitative therapy spaces including specially constructed ramps, hydrotherapy units, specially built supervised play units, etc. | 78,90,100 | |
| H | Total Construction Cost of other Essential Spaces: [E + F + G] | 1,45,20,000 | |
| TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST [D + H] | 3,29,20,000/- | ||
|
| Children: 100+ abandoned children with ID will have a safe shelter and environment in which they can develop to their fullest potential.
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