When the world recorded 15.4 million AIDS-orphaned children in 2020, it didn’t expect the number of orphans to jump by 10% in a few months (Hillis et al., 2021). Recent research on the Lancet predicted 1.5 million children worldwide lost one or both parents due to Covid-19 (Hillis et al., 2021). Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVA)’s lack of access to resources can cause the backsliding of many criteria of the multidimensional poverty scale. The pandemic significantly damaged developing countries which have less comprehensive childcare systems for orphaned children. With 44% of deaths from Covid-19 composed of 21-40 years old, India needs human capital for sustainable economic growth (Statista Research Department, 2021). Research has found that the impact of orphanhood translates into a reduction of 8.5% in consumption expenditure in OVA’s adulthood (Beegle et al., 2010). Epidemics also had a history of reducing the GDP growth rate by 0.56 to 1.47% (Bonnel, 2000). The decrease of the taxable population poses serious questions to the sustainability of India’s economic growth and anti-poverty campaigns.
India’s current situation asks an age-old question in a more urgent way: how can we take care of these kids?
“Who are ‘we’?” one might ask. The answer might not be obvious. Much previous research proved that India’s traditional institutional care system is not optimal for a child’s emotional and educational development–more than 27% of them do not conduct education assessments, 33% are not registered with the state (Bhandare, 2018). Since the pandemic started, 26,176 children have become OVAs because of Covid-19; only 274 have enrolled in an institution (Press Trust of India, 2021). Therefore, to ensure sustainable human development and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian economy, policymakers should care for OVAs by establishing a community-based care system.
Community-based care can better support orphaned children to receive an education. Child-headed or foster households put the financial obligation on the oldest, school-aged child, especially girls (Kidman, 2021). Community-based care can give these children more options by ensuring basic necessities, providing better quality of care, protecting them from exploitation, and helping them access financial institutions.
OVAs often lack necessities, which leads them to criminal activities or exploitative employment situations. The research found that working with school feeding programs and community cooperatives operating in many villages are cost-effective ways to ensure children don’t turn to criminal activities. USAID statistics show that it took $150,000 (around 11,400,000 Rupees) to care for 76 orphans in an orphanage, while it took $125,000 (around 9,500,000 Rupees) for 200 orphans through a community program (Committee on International Relations, 2001). The community system better allocates resources than the 1,000,000 rupees payout the government promised individual OVA for their long-term education and family support (PIB Delhi, 2021).
Contrary to belief, community-based care also provides better quality of care than foster homes and orphanages. Even when the country covers all living costs, family-based caretakers still deprive children of education and legal inheritance. The research found that empowering community groups to monitor the orphaned children’s living condition can reduce the chances of exploitation. In comparison, foster care isolates orphaned children from their original network and is often more exploitative. A lack of foster care culture in India also causes more people to become foster parents for financial reasons. In addition to being expensive, orphanages often
raise children who lack life skills, emotional maturity, and social connections (Edström & Macgregor, 2010). Connections in the community are valuable resources that help orphaned children with job-seeking and general integration in society. In other words, community-care systems are most likely to produce children who become productive economy members.
Community-based care can also help child-headed households access institutions designed for adults with less risk of their relatives claiming their inheritance–a significant challenge for illiterate and underage OVAs. “Parents have been productive and have left assets for the children, but immediately after their deaths, the relatives squander everything,” observed a social worker during Botswana’s AIDS crisis (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2002). Many current Indian children OVA children fell victim to property–grabbing, denied credit, insurance, or medical help because of their age (Bhandare, 2018). The community could act as an insurer to support the children when dealing with legal and financial institutions.
However, to mitigate the long-term impact that Covid-19 has on the Indian economy, India needs educated and job-ready OVAs. Community schools are an accessible and cost-effective option (Salaam, 2005). These schools don’t have fee requirements and are operated by local volunteer teachers (Salaam, 2005). The model is also flexible to the agricultural calendar (Salaam, 2005). The community’s knowledge of the usefulness of different types of training can also help children learn for income.
The urgency of the OVA crisis urges policymakers to revisit their local networks and reconstruct solidarities on a national or even international stage. The policies could only work if the policymakers are willing to consider community workers as valid partners. Interconnectedness with communities, regardless of their size, could benefit the Indian economy and the young lives that will soon hold the future in their hands.