Who could understand the pain better than him, what and how it felt like to be an orphan? But fortunately for Ian Anand Forber Pratt, God had sent two angels to love and nurture him and after realization dawned on him of his turn  to give back, Ian decided to dedicate his life for the neglected children, helping them find a loving home and bringing smiles to their faces.

At 34, Ian has more than a dozen children who are none of his blood but of his ‘heart’. Ian was born in 1980 in Kolkata in an orphanage but was lucky enough to be adopted by a US based couple who flew him away to their homeland within two months of his birth. His mother Rozalind Forber and Father Laurence Pratt showered him all the love and care a child needs to bloom into a good human being and when he was old enough to understand, they told him about his identity.

An upset Ian came back to Kolkata in 2006 in search of his biological parents but failed. But the journey filled in him compassion and tenderness for the thousands of children who were perhaps not lucky like him to be bestowed of doting parents. Ian returned back to US but with firm determination. He chose to pursue Masters in Social Work from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University and gained some practical experience by working with some NGOs there.

In 2010, he decided to come back to India and embarked on a long journey for a noble cause of promoting foster care for the street children. ‘ My parents named me Anand because they said I had brought happiness to them. And when they realized my mission they asked me to go on and spread out the same happiness to others less fortunate’ said a proud Ian. He happened to come to Udaipur for a seminar and impressed by charity deed by a group of young men, he decided to settle here and start his journey to promote foster care.

Ian founded an NGO called Foster Care India with the vision that every child has a Right to Family. He himself have sponsored children in Udaipur from the remote areas for schooling, tuitions and livelihood. ‘Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward , group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver referred to as a foster parent, Ian said. However very few state governments have developed foster care programs.

Foster care is still largely used as a pre-adoption procedure, which is limiting the potential of this method to provide family care to children. ‘ We at Foster Care India are working on to develop a module to train and empower government in a partnership to implement a foster care system, he said. Ian and his aides have counseled many families and succeeded them to become foster parents to many kids in need of care and protection. Ian has been hired as technical advisor for a study on Alternative Care Practices for Children in Jharkhand. He is also associated with Save the Children, project in Dungarpur and have developed caregiver training module for palanhar yojana families. Not limiting his capacities to India, Ian has also served as a mentor for youth in India, Nigeria and United States under various projects.

Geetha Sunil Pillai

Ian Anand Forber Pratt is the founder of Foster Care India- an Udaipur based NGO working for promoting the concept of foster care