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ST. CATHERINE’S
HOME
HANAA
ROLL NO: 7
Who Are We.
 Founded in 1922, St. Catherine’s Home was Ida Dickenson’s initiative
to provide shelter and an environment of love and care to homeless
girls, especially unmarried mothers. In December 1927, when she
could no more manage the work, the Bishop of Bombay requested the
Daughters of the Cross to take over her work.

The charism of the Daughters of the Cross is to reach out to the

weakest and most suffering members of society. Over nine decades
of working with and for the girls, the ultimate goal of St. Catherine’s
Home is empowering deprived, abused, underprivileged girls and
young women to be confident, qualified, responsible, value based
citizens of our country.

 From 1927, at St. Catherine’s Home, the Religious Sisters of the

Daughters of the Cross, provide a home to helpless, vulnerable
babies, girls and some older women, most of whom have been
deprived of the love and protection of parents and a family, due to
some oppressive circumstances. The Sisters and children tried to
settle in several places but found them unsatisfactory. Finally in 1948,
two families donated land for the Home and that is how
St. Catherine’s Home came to be in the lush green surroundings of
Veera Desai Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai, India. Children are
admitted under different groupings – abandoned / relinquished
babies, toddlers, orphans, children with HIV, girls placed with us for
protection from abuse, children from abusive/ unsafe life situations,
abused minor girls, unmarried mothers and adivasi girls. Presently
there are around 400 residents.
What We Do; Objective.
 Our objectives are: To provide prompt medical care,
nutritious diet and create a child-friendly environment for
children with HIV infection to enhance their life span.
 To help each child feel loved, respected and to integrate
each child in the home, school and society.
 To offer opportunities for an all-round growth through
cultural activities, exposure programs, developing their
talents and potential.
 To reduce stigma and discrimination through networking
and collaboration with other NGOs, relatives, care-givers
etc. through awareness programs.
 To offer counselling and guidance to these young girls,
enabling them to make an alternate choice of occupation
and means of livelihood for themselves and their family.
 To integrate them back into society and to ensure that
their rights are never violated.
What We Do; Our Approach.
St. Catherine’s Home takes a Child Rights based approach which sees each
child as a unique and equally valuable human being, with the right not only to
life and survival, but also to development to their fullest potential.
 Survival Rights : St. Catherine's Home provides all children and women in our
care their basic needs of food, shelter, a healthy standard of living and
access to medical services (within our campus) for existence.
 Development Rights: St. Catherine's Home ensures that all our children and
young girls are enrolled in school or some study program (formal/ informal/
vocational/ professional) in the campus school or in institutions outside the
school. Counselling and therapy are provided to the children and young girls,
to give them skills to cope with their trauma and they are accompanied, so
that they realize their true potential. The children and women have access to
information through the newspapers and TV. There is a daily time slot for play
and leisure for the children and young girls. The children and women are free
to exercise their freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
 Protection Rights: St. Catherine's Home provides a safe and secure
environment for the child within its well-guarded campus. Children are
educated and rehabilitated into their families (if they are safe) or else into
society through adoption when the children are cleared for adoption by the
courts or else integrated into society, after they have completed their studies
and take up jobs after the age of 18.
 Participation Rights: Children in each cottage of St. Catherine’s Home have a
Bal Panchayat – a Council of Children – to which children are elected by the
children of the respective cottage through secret ballot, to take up
responsibilities of being Food Minister, Study Minister, Discipline Minister,
Environment Minister, etc. for the concerned cottage.
What We Do; Profile of Beneficiaries.
 Family Background : All those admitted belong to very poor
families. The families (comprising of abusive parents or single
parents or only relatives and no parents or no relatives and
no parents) live either on the roadside or in a slum which is
unsafe for girls.
 Unmarried mothers - young, unmarried girls who are
pregnant – some have been abandoned after they got
pregnant, some are rape victims. They are mostly from very
poor families and need to work to survive or to support their
families.
 Babies relinquished - through a legal process by the
unmarried mothers as these young mothers are unable to live
with the stigma attached to being unmarried mothers, in our
country. They are unable to provide for their babies, would
not be accepted by their families, and would not be able to
hold jobs, if they have a baby to care for.
 Babies, toddlers, children under 3 years of age abandoned
- found in various places brought in by the police are placed
here by the Child Welfare Committee for safe custody. Some
of these children are given in adoption, after a thorough
home study and through legal procedures.
What We Do; Profile of Beneficiaries.
 Missing children – brought to us by the Police are helped to
find their families.
 Orphans – Children who have no parents, may or may not
have relatives.
 Children who have experienced trauma, violence, abuse or
those who have to be protected from it - eg. Girl witnessed the
father murdering the mother; girl witnessed the mother burning
to death; parents taught the girl to steal; parents forced the girl
to beg on the streets; parents or relatives or employers
physically abused the girl; parents neglected the girl. Some
have a single parent who is unable to care for the girl, either
due to extreme poverty or being mentally challenged.
 Girls with HIV infection – Most of them do not have parents, or
may have a parent who is suffering from HIV and is unable to
care and provide for them.
 Sexually abused girls - minor girls rescued from the flesh trade
or sexual abuse, may be from any part of India or even outside
India eg Bangladesh as they have been sold into brothels, or
massage parlours in Mumbai. Some belong to families wherein
prostitution is a way of life. Some have been sold into the flesh
trade by their own families, neighbours, relatives or friends.