Tejus Home

OUR VISION

A world without Child Sexual Abuse

OUR MISSION

Tejus Home protects, nurtures and empowers abused, pregnant teenagers

OUR OBJECTIVE

• Provide a safe and non-judgemental shelter for abused, pregnant teenagers.
• Provide respectful maternal health care to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
• Support abused, pregnant teenagers with legal and psychological issues.

TEJUS HOME is a partnership between two NGOs – Dil Se and Birth For Change. Working with children, Dil Se came across abused, pregnant teenagers. These girls not only faced stigma and rejection by family and the community; they had no place they could go to which would take care of them adequately and appropriately.
Dil Se felt called into action – and Tejus Home opened in November 2012. This home, with it’s caring environment, provides the girls a safe and nurturing place to live in during one of the most difficult times of their lives.
Thanks to Birth For Change, the home offers the possibility of a healthy pregnancy, a natural delivery and the time to repair their bodies and mind following an often traumatic situation of abuse.
Counselling support and Arts-Based Therapy enables the girls to deal with the abuse, and not just survive, but thrive.

As far as we know, Tejus Home is the only home in India, which is specifically for pregnant teens.

• Information and resources to help the girls make choices about their pregnancy, their baby, and their future.
• Counselling for the young mothers and their families.
• Encouragement to continue education during pregnancy and after birth.
• Birth preparation and education classes
• Individualized health care: prenatal, birth and postnatal care with a midwife.
• Legal support
• Sexuality education
• Life-skills training: self-confidence and self-esteem, assertiveness, finances, home management, gardening etc

When a pregnant girl is referred to us we meet her with acceptance. She may feel angry and ashamed, has been shunned by her family and rejected by her community. We are often the first compassionate contact she encounters. We help her to come to terms with her situation and from there understand her options.