Pascal Fautrat,
Founder
“Creating a Children’s Home like TARA was a crazy bet which would never have succeeded without the continuous involvement of a multidisciplinary and devoted team, driven by the conviction that our cause is just. The path is fraught with pitfalls but our determination is stronger than ever to protect and give these children all the tools required to become independent and fulfilled adults”
The TARA projects started in 2008
Pascal Fautrat, social worker for the Judicial Protection Youth (Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse) in France, and Annick Adam, a retired teacher, created the NGOs Chaya France and ONYVA in order to launch TARA Boys, the first TARA Home in New Delhi.
The first boys to be welcomed in this home gave their name to the TARA projects, placing them under happy auspices… Indeed, TARA means “star” in Hindi and the speed of the children’s progress compares to shooting stars!
Our development
TARA Boys has grown and today welcomes 20 boys from 6 to 18 years old coming from situations of extreme vulnerability. Their placements at TARA were ordered by the Child Welfare Committee (Board of Magistrates, Government of India).
The success of this first home allowed TARA to grow and to create TARA Tots, which welcomes 20 boys and girls below 10 years old, in 2012. TARA Big Birds, an aftercare program for young adults who grew up in TARA, was launched in 2014 while TARA Girls, a Home for young girls from 6 to 18 years old, opened in 2015.
The geographical proximity of the homes was planned by Pascal Fautrat and Annick Adam from the beginning in order to allow the siblings welcomed in different TARA Homes to meet regularly and maintain family ties.
Our commitment to quality
Several million children live in extreme poverty in India, completely on their own and victims of all kinds of violence. The scale of the phenomenon is such that the Indian Government are not always able to provide a sustainable solution (see Comity Verma report p.179). The TARA projects welcome a limited number of beneficiaries (20 children per Home) in order to ensure a sustainable change in the childhood and the future of this underprivileged youth. The quality of TARA’s work and the expertise we developed in the field of Child Protection in India allowed us to scale up gradually and to establish an excellent reputation in Delhi.
Our missions
Today, TARA welcomes 60 children from 2 to 22 years old in four Homes in New Delhi and ensures them a safe and family-like environment, complete health care, a balanced lifestyle and an excellent education in the best schools of Delhi, on the basis of the model set up by Mr. Fautrat in 2008.
In each TARA Home, the children receive individual attention and care so that they can develop their capacities and live a fulfilling childhood. The focus on education in TARA gives them all the tools to choose their future and gradually become empowered and independent.
Eventually, these children, handicaped by the circumstances of their birth to lead a life of misery and abuse, will be able to break the circle of poverty, choose their future, inspire new generations to follow their example, and in turn change the lives of their families.