Child safeguarding

What this page is, and what it is not

Snehwan USA Inc does not run a children’s home. It raises funds in the United States and makes grants to Snehwan, which cares for the children in India. The day-to-day protection of those children — supervision, staff screening, visits, incident handling — is Snehwan’s responsibility, under Indian law and its own procedures.

Two things are nonetheless ours. What we publish about children on this site and in our fundraising is entirely our decision. And because we fund an organisation that cares for children, we want to hear about it if anything is wrong there, and we can act on it as a funder.

How we protect the children’s privacy

You cannot sponsor a named child, exchange letters with a child, or receive a child’s contact details. It is the request we are asked for most often, and the protection matters more than the disappointment.

There is a second reason beyond protection. Snehwan USA Inc is a grantmaker: our board decides each grant on its own judgement and retains control of the funds. A donor who directed money to a named child would make us a conduit rather than a grantmaker, which is not something we are able to be.

What we require of Snehwan

Before any grant is approved, our board reviews Snehwan’s legal status, its governing body, its finances and its capacity to deliver. Each grant is made under a written agreement requiring the funds to be used for the approved charitable purposes, and requiring Snehwan to report to us on how they were used. If we became aware of a safeguarding failure we could suspend payments, require corrective action, seek the return of funds, or end the relationship.

Our Whistleblower Policy and our International Grant Policy are published in full on the Accountability page.