Distressed Children & Infants International (DCI)

DCI’s mission is to protect the rights of children, stop child labor, and help families lift themselves out of poverty through education, healthcare, vision care, and income generating opportunities.

DCI envisions a society where underprivileged children have equal access to opportunities for a secure and prosperous life. We look forward to the day in which child labor and trafficking will be eliminated globally.
DCI also seeks to connect American youth to less fortunate children of other countries, educating them about the challenges facing children worldwide, developing their intellectual capacity, and inspiring them to take leadership in humanitarian causes; in this way we hope to nurture responsible and compassionate world citizens and future leaders.

DCI emerged from the life experience, values, and vision of two doctors: Ehsan Hoque and Brian DeBroff. The two doctors discovered that they had a common dream of bettering the lives of distressed children and preventing blind-ness, so they joined together to create an organization that would address this two-fold mission. On May 24, 2003, Distressed Children & Infants International was officially founded at Yale University. Two years later, DCI received official recognition from the United States government. In January 2006, DCI started its flagship Sun Child Sponsorship Program, which now supports over 5000 underprivileged children in Bangladesh and India. Over the years, DCI has added numerous other successful programs and launched advocacy initiatives to raise awareness about child rights and health.

5th International Child Rights & Sight Conference at Yale University on October 24, 2015