Group Foster Home (Rise Up Home) : Redefining families

Caregivers being undervalued and overexploited are serious concerns across the globe, as is the capitalization and commercialization of the fundamental need for care and the humanitarian act of caretaking, which is impeding access to care for those who are most vulnerable.
Children, particularly those who do not have an opportunity to grow up under influence of a family have complex connections with care and caretaking.

It is estimated that there are 117 million children in India, with 29.2 million of them being orphans. In addition to which, approximately 4,70 000 orphans are resorted to 9589 child care institutions, which is a concerning data since it indicates a lack of accessibility of children to individual care which eventually has the possibility to render their ability to care and understand the humanity associated with it.

Care is concerned as an act conferred on immediate blood relations and narratives celebrating the social construct of caring only for people in the line of blood remain a parallel problem, as the children who deserve care and love are not considered to be a collective responsibility and unalienable part of child rights.

Rise Up Home is a group foster care home for children who are in need of familial care, affection and a nurturing environment. It envisions the development of an alternative family where care is ensured beyond blood relations and the children housed in the institutional set up under child care institutions are brought together to nurture a family step by step with love, care and understanding serving as the foundation

Rise Up Home looks forward in extending solutions to the challenge of  Child caregiving and receiving through the following ways 

1)Redefining care:

 Rise Up Home establishes itself in a society where there are many prevalent misconceptions about the agencies and those on the receiving end of care, we would be implementing a systemic alternative in which children from various backgrounds and histories are loved while acknowledging their part rather than erasing their identity.

2) Setting a preliminary example: 

It stands as a Model Home for persons and organizations coming forward to take up the responsibility of children and unlearning the act of caring beyond blood relations to be a charitable goal

3)Restating the relation between capital and caregiving:

Through Rise Up Home, caregiving is depicted as a vital and basic right rather than a financial luxury.

4) Providing a space for individuals who associate with caregiving: 

Rise Up Home would be home in every sense for individuals who are intrinsically believers in the notion of providing care to children in order to ensure that as they develop, they pass on their beliefs to the people they come into contact with.

5) Ensuring Collective and Community Action :

Rise Up Home is a collective action by thousands of young people, that enables them to understand the importance of caregiving, which will be carried out in their own personal circles involving other people who are in need of care. The Importance of caring and the individuals who belong in the care economy will be passed on subsequently.

6) Eradication of the notion of  othering :
The foundation of caring on both sides is the eradication of the concept of othering via respect for the experiences they have been through. Rise Up Home adheres to the principle of eradication of all forms of differences and discriminations by providing the children with a value-based upbringing.

Rise Up Forum aspires to create a sense of belonging, care and a loving family environment for children who have been denied it. Initially, We intend to house eight children in our Fit Facility, which is the maximum number of beneficiaries that can be housed in a foster care unit according to the Model Guidelines for Foster Care, 2016 [5]. We prefer to raise both male and female children in our home, with the final allocation determined by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Thus Initiation of the home has a direct impact on the children who come together to build a family, alongside which Rise Up Forum aspires to establish the need for an alternative social family among the people, in the panchayat, and other organisations who would like to take up such initiatives in the future. We hope that by building this model home, many replicas will spring up across India to protect our children's right to family. This has the potential to have a social impact that spans generations. 

A lack of concern and social support is evident in all aspects of our lives. There is a persistent split in care, ranging from dysfunctional households to discriminatory social events. We are worried about the terrible disparity that children confront as an organisation that is actively involved in numerous social platforms and spaces  This concern, along with a strong conviction in our team's capacity to bridge the gap between different levels of care accessible, is the most essential reason why we are capable of delivering solutions.

In addition to an emotional awareness of the situation, we as a team have conducted and continue to conduct substantial research (quantitative and qualitative) and survey findings across states to better understand how children are affected and their needs.

Interactions with organisations and individuals that share similar ideological reliability facilitate the tracking of inputs from children in need and active caregivers engaging in the act.
With regard to the region of the development of the fit facility, which is the initial stage of group foster care home, we are building in an area with the organization's maximum volunteer strength for administration and logistics assistance.

The organisation is a collective action in which individuals from many cultures and family backgrounds join together for a shared solution, so there is a clear awareness of what a lack of familial environment can do to children and others around them. Our organisation is better positioned to give solutions because of this respect and understanding.

Solve is uunderstood to be a potential platform for learning and developing an intersectional and inclusive understanding of challenges and solutions related to it. Rise Up Forum as an organisation aiming to work and bring about all possible changes in its capacity looks up to the platform as a space for learning and unlearning.

Our solution involves Asset building because according to foster home guidelines a residential fit facility is necessary for children to live in . The infrastructural development needs financial and technical support. The cultural understanding of ground realities and solutions which have been successful would serve as a major takeaway from solve.

The association with similar ventures and ideological partners who take up similar challenges as a responsibility would undoubtedly be a great area to learn from.

Rise Up Home is a redefined family in which children who have been denied their basic right to a familial environment are brought together to establish a family together, where they will be raised in the manner that every functioning and happy family is organized. Our children, whose primary need is love and care, will remain with the family until they feel emotionally, financially, or psychologically independent and decide to move out.

Rise Up Home is an innovative model of a foster care home, where we do not incorporate children in already established and structured families, but rather ensure the participation of our children in need of care, caregivers, and all others associated with them in order to organically develop a family that stands strong with one another and where vulnerabilities are not judged but acknowledged and worked on.

The care unit exists in a social block where there is no lack of traditional and stereotyped dimensions to the conduct of society. Rise Up Home is built in a social atmosphere where the initiative such as this is a very novel model to look ahead on how to maintain a healthy family environment
Starting in small areas and introducing similar models in other social units helps to spread the message of, the fundamental need for care to every kid.
The solution assures catalytic change since children are held close by providing psychological, social, and mental support, which aids in their well-being by offering appropriate social exposure and assisting in the overcoming of inhibitions. if any exist.

Impact goals for next 5 years

Children of our Fit Facility: The primary impact goals of our solution (Rise Up Home) are our children whom we intend to house in our Foster Care Home. Rise Up Home would be a home for each of them where they will feel belonged and loved and eventually helps them in growing together to nurture a family fond of love and care.

RUH being a Model Home: Rise Up Home aspires to be a Model home or Reference working to set up an example for individuals and organizations who come forward to take up the initiative to redefine the concept of familial love and care beyond blood relations through similar projects in future. We wish to infer courage and determination to various youth organizations to take up the responsibility of underprivileged children. 

Developing an Alternative social unit: One of the significant impacts that we wish to make in the next five years is to transform and develop the Residential area where our Fit facility is being constructed into an Alternative social unit having community spaces where care is ensured as a vital and essential right of children.

Impact through our Volunteers: We are an organization of thousands of young minds who are involved in a collective movement that enables every one of them to be the change-makers in their respective circles by understanding the importance of caregiving and thereby creating a significant impact in public and communities.

Society as an impact goal: Rise Up Home paves way for the redefinition of conventional ideas of family in our society and thereby making people aware of the importance of alternative families where each individual involved will receive respect, acceptance and space for individual growth and togetherness.

Nationwide expansion of RUH Model: One of the long-term impact goals of our foster care unit is in bringing about a nationwide expansion of similar yet contextualized and replicable models. 

The impact goals for next year

Familiarizing the concept of Foster Care Homes: Acquainting and Advocating the public with the concept of the Fostering and significance of the same thereby redefining the concept of familial care and affection beyond blood relations.

Inspiring the younger generation: We intend to provide youth with an opportunity to be a part of this initiative to utilize their strength to ensure the importance of respecting and protecting child rights and inspire them to come forward with similar projects in future.

Measuring progress toward impact goals over time entails the following methods:

1)Quarterly Performance Audit: The audit monitors the progress of Foster care facilities in all spheres

2) Conducting surveys before and after the construction of the foster care home to understand the domestic population's attitude towards child rights and well-being.

3) Counseling sessions for children on a regular basis, as well as tracking their development, to understand their needs and growth.

4) Each student's performance report would be kept and updated on a regular basis. This will include academic and cultural evaluations of students in schools and other cultural venues.

Rise Up Forum initiates the development of Rise Up Home (A group foster care home) so that, the children who have been denied a family environment to grow up in are protected with their fundamental right to be cared for and raised in a healthy and functional familial atmosphere, and the issue to be comprehended through the lens of child rights and collective responsibility rather than charity.

Taking into consideration the characteristics of the proposed project as a solution to bring about significant changes in the accessibility of care for children, it is clearly understood that the project revolves closely around humane and human resources with very limited use of technology other than the basic use of techniques such as data collecting and management systems, audiovisual and media technology to reach out to the maximum number of audience to ensure the idea is contagious. 
The nature of the initiative necessitates the use of conventional and traditional methods of raising social awareness and attracting people through various ways such as crowd financing and sponsorship sophisticated technical utilization is not really a resource or a project need.

As a principle-driven organisation, Rise Up Forum does all necessary to guarantee that our team is inclusive, varied, and promotes equity. Individuals who identify as women, as well as those from various social, economic, and religious backgrounds, make up the Management team of Rise Up Home

Sources of Finance

1. Crowdfunding

2. Sponsorship

3. Approaching various companies/ vendors for resources

4. CSR funds for corporates

5. Approaching private donors

6. Government grants

7. Identification of sponsors from within the organization

We have been able  to raise around 23.5 lakh Indian rupees, majorly through crowd funding with the support of our volunteers. 

Also we were able to receive few major donations ranging from 50,000 to 2,50,000.