Project report
Trauma-Informed Care in the Childcare and Family Placement Process: Miracle Foundation’s Approach Within Alternative Care in India
Audria Choudhury ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This report describes how Miracle Foundation applies trauma-informed care principles in alternative care settings in India, from initial intake through family placement and post-placement support. The approach focuses on five core principles: safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment. The organization works with children in childcare institutions, families, and staff through training, counselling, and mental health support. It also trains government officials using a train-the-trainer model to strengthen the broader social care system.
Key points
- Trauma-informed care addresses both pre-existing trauma and trauma from family separation in childcare institutions
- Five core TIC principles are applied: safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment
- Interventions include capacity building, counselling, mental health resources, and dedicated guidance at intake, during care, and after placement
- Train-the-trainer model used to equip government officials with strength-based approaches
- Approach aims at system strengthening across the social care workforce
Limitations
The document describes an organizational approach rather than evaluating its effectiveness. There are no empirical findings, outcome measures, or evidence of whether the implemented practices actually improve child well-being or trauma recovery.
Abstract
Trauma-informed care (TIC) is critical in institutional settings to address not only the trauma of experiences that lead children to be enrolled into alternative care, such as childcare institutions (CCIs), but also the inherent trauma that comes from a child being separated from her or his family. This article looks at how Miracle Foundation applies principles of TIC at every stage: from intake and care at a CCI while awaiting placement, to preparing children and families for transition, and finally to supporting post-placement. Following a brief background of the trauma surrounding institutional settings and its damage on children’s development drawn from existing literature, the article defines the principles of TIC: safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment. The narrative then illustrates how these principles are applied with children, families and CCI staff through capacity building, access to counselling and mental health resources and dedicated guidance by Miracle team members throughout the childcare and placement process. Training government officials through a train-the-trainer model equips them to practise a strength-based approach with children and families. This also positions us for a systematic change when it comes to developing all members of the social workforce through system strengthening.