TITLE:

Co-existence of orphanages and old age homes as a possible solution for achieving
mental well-being.

RATIONALE AND GAP ANALYSIS:

There are 81million older people in India. According to an estimate nearly 40% of senior citizens
living with their families are reportedly facing abuse of one kind or another, but only 1 in 6 cases
actually comes to light. “Senior citizens faced the worst impact in the lockdown”, said Ghadge
(reporter of the TIMES OF INDIA). Among the elderly, women felt the brunt as suicides rose 60%
from 23 in 2019 to 37 in 2020. In case of elderly men, there was 21% increase in suicide from 69 in
2019 to 84 in 2020. “These figures indicate that senior citizens were deeply impacted by the
lockdown. They are dependent on the others for their daily needs and basic living. They came
under severe stress which affected their mental health”, said Ghadge.

In a recent survey titled ‘The Silent Tormentor—Covid 19 and the elderly’ by the NGO HelpAge
India, factures communication with loved ones and an increasing sense of hopelessness were the
overarching feelings conveyed by senior citizens. The survey included the voices of 3000 elders living
in households and old age homes. While over 40% of elderly felt their future was bleak, nearly 60%
confessed that lockdown affected their communication with family members working or studying
from home. Over half of them said their income was affected in terms of ranking of abuse,
emotional abuse emerged as the most prevalent form of abuse over the last one year.

Prakash Borgaonkar of HelpAge India said the NGO’s helpline got many calls from silvers feeling
depressed, Borgaonkar has yet to get over one call from an 80-year-old. “He was lonely and needed
someone to just talk to. I rushed to his place with a friend, spoke to him and in two hours, he
perked up. He was cracking jokes”, he said, stressing on the need to bridge inter-generational
communication gaps.

On the contrary, there are over 2 crore orphans in India; more than the total population of Sri Lanka!
This figure is from a detailed study by SOS Children’s Villages. The ChildLine portal of the Government
states that, In Maharashtra out of the total 7,084 children, 6,865 have lost one parent, 217 have
been orphaned and two children have been abandoned, while Madhya Pradesh tops the chart
where 226 have been abandoned. The NCPCR said that among the affected, boys are 15,620, girls
(14,447) and transgender (4), with most children falling in the category of 8 to 13 years of age
(11,815).
It said that children affected between the age group of 0 to 3 years are 2,902, 4-7 years group are
5,107 and 14 to 15 years are 4,908. It said that children affected between 16 to below 18 years are
5,339 in numbers.
The commission clarified that 9,346 children were abandoned, orphaned or lost a parent mostly to
the COVID-19 pandemic and, “Another study estimates that there are about 44 million poor children
and over 12 million orphan and abandoned children in India”. The Planning Commission and the
Government have never had a structured survey of these children. For all we know, this figure could be
much higher! Orphaned children faced more abuse during the pandemic. The amount of SOS calls
received to the majority of the helpline numbers witness the increase in child abuse among
orphaned children.  In many cases, a situation arises where one parent has succumbed to the
virus and the other remains hospitalized. This resulted in a temporarily orphaned child of a
single mother/father till the recovery of hospitalized parents. According to a study, only 0.5% of
orphaned children reach orphanages. One in five districts in the country does not have even a
single orphanage home. This results in numerous children reach the road and commit petty
crimes for their survival.

OBJECTIVE:
 To alleviate the negative traumatizing impact of orphanhood in children by establishing
and creating an inclusive environment
 To understand the viewpoint of
(a)stake-holders of the respective institutions towards the coexistence of old age
homes and orphanages.
(b) Elderlies in old age homes of their willingness to be associated with the orphanage
(c) Government on the idea of the merger and their willingness to support financially.
 To develop and create an integrated environment and provide shelter and homeliness
to maximum needy people
 To assess the psycho social problems among elderly and orphan children
 To have a detailed understanding about the

1.Children who have lost their parents or who have been abandoned by their
parents

2.Elderly who feel limited because of aging and worsening health conditions.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Research methodology provides a brief description of the method adopted by the investigator in
this study. This includes the research approach, population, sample and sampling technique. It
further deals with the development of tool procedure for data collection, plan for data analysis and
pilot study.

Research Approach
Survey approach will be used for this study. The survey approach focuses on obtaining information,
regarding the activities, beliefs, performances and attitude of people through divers questioning of a
sample of respondents (stake-holders, elderlies and government).

Population
Requirement of defining population for a research project arises from the need to specify the group
to which the result of the study can be applied. The target population in this study includes elderly
aged between 60-80 years, who are residing in Little Sister of The Poor- Home For the Aged, Andheri
East and orphans in Shishu Welfare Trust of India, Malad East.

Sample
Samples were elderly aged between 60-80 years, who are residing in Little Sister of The Poor- Home
For he Aged, Andheri East and orphans of age above 6 years (who will be able to communicate) in
Shishu Welfare Trust of India, Malad East.

Sample size
The sample size was 15 elderly people between 60-80 years and 15 orphans above 6 years of age.

Sampling technique
Convenience sampling technique (A convenience sample simply includes the individuals who happen
to be most accessible to the researcher) will be used. Area will be selected based on the availability
of samples and accessibility of researcher. Samples will be selected according to the convenience of
researcher.

Selection criteria
Inclusion criteria

 Elderlies who are aged between 60-80 years of age from the old age home and orphans
above 6 years from the orphanage.
 Those who are willing to participate

Exclusion criteria

 Elderly and orphans who are not willing to participate.

Research Tool and Technique

A close ended questionnaire will be prepared to understand the feasibility of this proposal through
the answers given by the targeted respondents. Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer
respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. Closed-ended questions are best for collecting
data on categorical or quantitative variables.

For e.g.:
1.What is your age?
o 15 or younger
o 16-35
o 36-60
o 61-75
o 76 or older
2.How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your treatment in old age
home/orphanage?
o  Very dissatisfied
o Somewhat dissatisfied
o Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
o Somewhat satisfied
o Very satisfied
3. Would you agree for the co-existence of old-age homes and orphanages?
o Strongly agree
o Strongly disagree
o Undecided

 
EXPECTED OUTCOMES:
 A mutual relationship between the two groups will be established. The elderly will act as a
parent figure in the orphan’s life, and the children would act as young companions to the
elderly. They would live together as a family and support each other physically and
emotionally.
  The home will be supported by administration facilities, recreational activities, community
gathering space, active play and exploration as well as quite gathering and study will also be
facilitated.
 The project will focus on three major aspects: safety, security and community.

BENEFITS TO THE SOCIETY:

 Merger of old age home and orphanage will result in proper guidance given to the orphans
with respect to life, they will get parental love, they will be to implement the learnings from
the elderlies which will groom their personality and have a positive impact on their lives.
 The GOLDEN EXPERIENCE of the elderlies will give the orphans the GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES
in their life.
 Old age parents will be able to spend their time productively with the orphans, they will get
the love of the children.
 The merger will enhance the quality of youth in India. Since, there are various negative
impact on the youth due to the growing crime rates and lack of guidance results in the
misuse of their freedom. The bond between the elderlies and orphans will be comfortable
and friendly as no one better than the elderlies can provide better support and love to the
children.
 There will be learning on both the ends and it will result in a healthy environment.
 This merger will be called as 8-80 principle.

FUTURE SCOPE:
The project also encourages people from outside to mingle with the people living in the
home. This is done through community activities, library, computer lab, spaces for art and
craft, music and dance and vocational workshop spaces. One would also have to cater to the
needs and requirements of an elderly and children at one place but they would have to
function independently.

SWOC ANALYSIS:
Strengths:

 Children will get the precious guidance from the old age home parents. Old age parents will
nurture, will provide a right path, will help them to overcome the situation and problems
faced by them.
 Old Age parents will blend with the kids and will spend their time in a more effective
manner. They will feel like they have their own kids.

Weaknesses:

 Quite possible trust might suffer from financial problem.

Opportunities:

 There will be decrease in crime rate as orphans are usually targeted for the criminal
activities.
 During the time of adoption, the child will be well disciplined.
  They will learn to help each other, children will be able to learn the valuable lessons of life,
they will learn how to understand and deal with people.

Challenges:

 Major challenge will be to convince the old age parents because some may not give their
consent to the merger.
 Some time they may recall their past and get depressed.
 We might have to deal with Amnesia patient [loss of memory].

LIMITATIONS:
Restricted to the geographical boundaries of Mumbai and is obtained from a limited sample
size.

REFERENCES:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/number-of-indias-elderly-to-triple-
by-2050/article33515101.ece
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/mumbai-no-of-elderly-
ending-lives-soars-31-in-pandemic-year/articleshow/86568106.cms
https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1578363