In South India, Supporting Child Caregivers advises the caretakers at the Deenabandhu Bal Ashram—an orphanage that houses 79 kids located in the Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka. Chamarajanagar is an underserved and underfunded part of the state of Karnataka. Furthermore, Chamarajanagar exists as a part of India, and as such faces the same challenges to infant and maternal healthcare as India does. 

Our work with the Deenabandhu Ashram and School has expanded to include a vital collaboration with Prajna Neelgund and the teachers of the school. Inspired by workshops given by Cambridge Health Alliance child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, the teachers have proposed the project of creating a curriculum to support self-regulation in the classroom particularly with students with ADHD in mind, but benefiting all students. Adverse experiences in the neonatal period and infancy are known to interfere with neurodevelopment. Since the school serves a rural high-risk population, many of the students suffer from executive function disorders. We are hoping that a curriculum that includes periods of patterned physical activity and meditation, teaching methods that enhance classroom communication, and study groups, and peer support for students with academic challenges, can be organized into a coherent curriculum that can be established in all the classrooms.

A new project is being explored in Bangalore in collaboration with Maryann Washington and the St. John’s Research Institute and Nursing School. We hope to introduce infant-parent mental health with a workshop to the nursing school, and if the workshop is well received, we may be able to offer a full BBB training to the nurses in the future. In preparation for this possibility, we are translating the video dialogues of two pregnant women into the local language.

Additionally, India is experiencing a deadly second wave of COVID-19 infections that led to most of our colleagues at Deenabandhu contracting COVID-19. Thankfully none were hospitalized and they all recovered. Our North Indian collaborator (the Christian Hospital of Kasganj), on the other hand, has been debilitated by the second wave. Given the unique nature of the challenges India has faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Supporting Child Caregivers has donated USD2000.00 to the Christian Hospital of Kasganj’s COVID relief efforts. We continue to support our Indian collaborators in their time of need and if you would like to donate, please click the button below.