Our organisation was born in 1970 out of a deep concern that a majority of the orphaned and abandoned children were deprived of family for life. Initially our focus was on finding families for such children, creating a favourable climate for adoption within the country and advocating for enactment of a common adoption law to safeguard interests of the child and the concerned families.

Within a decade our conviction that a young child should be cared for in a family, led us to initiate the Foster Family Care programme for children awaiting Adoption. In another decade, we started reaching out to children who were at risk of losing family care, due to crisis in their family. Our involvement in the formulation of the State Government Scheme 'Bal Sangopan Yojana' that was aimed at preserving family life for such children, resulted in our being one of the agencies implementing the scheme. Simultaneously, we started Sponsorship Programme to support education for the underprivileged children, who dropped out of school due to adverse circumstances. We introduced several Supportive Services along the way, as necessitated by the emerging needs of children and their families.

The original mission that inspired IAPA in 1970 is echoed in the government policy for children in need of care and protection, since the introduction of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015. For the first time, this legislation recognised the indisputable value of family-based care for children. At IAPA, this has been the mandate right from its inception. From engaging in promoting adoption for orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children for the first 25 years, IAPA extended its mission to reach out to children at risk of neglect or separation from family; and those lacking opportunities for education and holistic development.

Over the five decades since inception, there has been a continuous evolution in the organization's activities, striving to better our services and effective implementation of our programmes.

For Details on the journey of making a difference in lives of children click - A Brief History of IAPA's Milestones