My daughter is adopted from India and is thriving. Children need families. WAIC is helping more Indian children be "adoptable" which is so important. Without their commitment, many children would sit in shelters for their whole childhood. Thanks for all you do, WAIC!

**Our budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year is $215,000 USD.** We ask you to contribute today. Early funding allows us to focus on what matters most: reaching more children, accelerating cases, and making children legally adoptable to reach families.

Hundreds of thousands of children live in India’s Child Care Institutions (CCIs aka shelters). Yet only a small fraction ever enter the legal adoption pool. Missing documentation, outdated records, limited training, and an overburdened system makes these children "invisible" and they continue to be stuck in institutional care. 

At Where Are India’s Children (WAIC), registered as Child Welfare and Action Foundation, our mission is simple but critical: **make every child visible, and bring abandoned and orphaned children into the legal adoption pool.** 

Our approach combines technology with relentless on-the-ground effort. 

1. We digitize children’s records across shelters using our custom tech, helping identify those who can be made eligible for adoption. 
2. Our social workers diligently and painstakingly work on every case, navigating complex processes to have children officially declared free for adoption under India’s child protection laws.

The impact is real. So far, 450+ children have been declared legally free for adoption through WAIC’s work—and over 200 of them have already found families. 

There is so much more to do.

Help us ensure that no child remains unseen, and no child is left waiting.

Learn more: [https://waic.in/](https://waic.in/)

Because Every Child Deserves a Family : 2026-27 Fundraiser

Also known as Where Are India's Children-WAIC, the Foundation helps children in India's shelters reach the legal adoption system.

**Where Are India's Children** (registered as Child Welfare and Action Foundation) was founded by three adoptive mothers in 2019, to ensure that every abandoned and orphaned child in India’s shelters reaches the legal adoption pool. 

To date, WAIC has:

- Digitized the records of **23,700+** children in shelters 
- Helped declare **460+** children legally free for adoption
- **223** children reached their forever families
- Trained **2000+** stakeholders in three states – Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka

**The Problem**

Despite hundreds of thousands of children living in Child Care Institutions (CCIs, aka shelters), very few enter the legal adoption pool. Gaps in documentation, outdated records, lack of training, and an overburdened system make these children "invisible", and they continue to be stuck in institutional care until they age out of the system.

**WAIC’s Approach**

WAIC bridges the gap between shelters and families through five key pillars:

1. **Technology (CLMS):** Our *Child Lifecycle Management Solution* digitises case records of children living in shelters, and uses algorithms to identify children eligible for adoption, reducing administrative delays.
2. **Fieldwork:** Our teams work at the district level to complete documentation and support legal proceedings to declare children legally free for adoption.
3. **Capacity Building/Training:** We train CCI staff and government officers on legal regulations and case resolution.
4. **Awareness & Advocacy:** We promote the Safe Surrender Law to prevent unsafe abandonment and advocate for policy reforms that prioritise family-based care over institutionalisation.
5. **Older Child & Special Needs Adoption:** Preparing parents and children for successful transitions.

Learn more about WAIC’s work here: [https://waic.in/](https://waic.in/)

**How You Can Help**

1. Donate today! 
2. Consider becoming a **Child Protection Patron – a committed donor** with insights into WAIC’s work and regular contact with the founders: [https://waic.in/5-5-commitment/](https://waic.in/5-5-commitment/)
3. Follow WAIC on LinkedIn and repost to amplify WAIC’s reach: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/waic-in/](https://www.linkedin.com/company/waic-in/)

**Contact WAIC**

Email us at [team@waic.in](mailto:team@waic.in) or feel free to connect with the founders on LinkedIn.
**Meera Marthi - linkedin.com/in/meeramarthi**
**Protima Sharma - linkedin.com/in/protimasharma**
**Smriti Gupta - linkedin.com/in/smgupta**

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