Crossing a thousand milestones [The Hindu 9/17/11 by Sudha Umashanker] is an interview with the former head of CARA (2000-2004), Andal Damodaran. She currently is the vice president of the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW). She was formerly its president. She also is the past president of the International Forum of Child Welfare (the first Asian and woman to hold the post).
An excerpt from the Ethical Adoption section:
“When I started doing work in Adoption in 1980-1981 there were no guidelines and rules and the programme was being misused. Later I stepped away from direct adoption and began looking at adoption guidelines in order to ensure that we do ethical adoptions not only in Chennai but throughout the country, and thus protect the interests of all parties — the child put up for adoption, the mother surrendering the child and the adoptive parents.”
While there are numerous other areas of concern that affect the lives of children, Andal Damodaran recalls with satisfaction the ICCW Tamil Nadu’s role in fighting child labour in Vellore and elsewhere.
From playing a catalytic role in building toilets for girls in schools in Srivilliputtur to encouraging girls to continue school to initiating multi-disciplinary training as part of Response to Child Abuse by bringing together doctors, lawyers, social workers, Government officials, child welfare committee members and working on protocols, to preparing a shadow report on the UN Convention for Child rights to see how far the rights have been realised where the gaps are and how far away we are from translating them into reality, Andal Damodaran’s work has seen her studying and taking up crucial issues and making a difference to the lives of children.”
What does someone like her who has spent over five decades working for children feel about the status of children today? “It has certainly improved. In the last 10 years there has been a big shift. Any work that was seen as a charity with children being the beneficiaries is today seen as a rights issue — right to protection, right to education and health etc.”
In the coming years she predicts that the structure of NGOs will change. “There will be less full time volunteers and more paid professionals. The voluntary sector has to become professional, accountable. NGOs shouldn’t just do flashy programmes but look at the long term impact of an issue, at policy, budgeting and from a State and national perspective so that we create a better future for children. Huge work still needs to be done. There is a country-wide dislike for the girl child if you go by the dwindling sex ratio.”
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