FOR Indian American couple Rajni and Praveen Madan, the tragic loss of their developmentally disabled daughter Jina several years ago became a summons to duty.

In April, they founded the non-profit Los Gatos-based "Jeena Hope for Kids," to provide support to South Asian families having children diagnosed with developmental disabilities in California's Bay Area and in India.

Developmental disabilities include cerebral palsy, autism and other physical and learning disorders. The group name "Jeena," means living in Hindi. Through contributions and personal donations, the organization has raised $50,000 in its first year of existence.

The Madans wanted to help children and parents experiencing the same kind of needs and troubles they had experienced with 16-month-old Jina, who died from a neurological disorder. Still, Rajni says she and her husband consider themselves fortunate. "We felt that there was a lot of help from the community."

The Madans relied on the San Andreas Regional Center to help them figure out where to get the resources they needed to help their daughter. When they decided to help families in similar situations themselves, the regional center suggested they start a support group for South Asians because they were without such a resource.

For Rajni, the cause has become such a personal one. She has given up her job as a sales accounts manager and technical trainer with a software company. Praveen is a management consultant with A. T. Kearney.

"Jeena" has adopted a two-pronged approach to cater to the needs of families in India and the Bay Area. In India, the focus has been on providing professionals with infrastructure and training, Rajni says.

In December, the organization sponsored a two-week hydrotherapy training session at the Bangalore Children's Hospital for 55 occupational and physical therapists from New Delhi, Bombay and Chennai and other parts of India. "Jeena" hired an occupational therapist and a physical therapist to conduct the aqua therapy workshop for children with neuro-muscular disorders. "It was done in a way that the children enjoyed the therapy rather than cried through it," said Rajni.

"Jeena" is now working with the Bangalore hospital to provide a hydrotherapy unit that would benefit 300 children each month. In the Bay Area, "Jeena" has contacted about 35 families and is focusing on providing parents with a support network and play groups for children which helps them to learn how to interact better with other kids. "Unfortunately the public schools don't meet this requirement," said Rajni.

"Jeena's" objective is to be an organization that meets the children's needs without all the paper work, said Rajni.

For the parents, the network means having a group of friends they can reach out to with their frustrations or to tell someone about their children's achievements. Meeting once a month, the parents talk about issues and discuss what resources are available to them. This month, for instance, they met a social worker and talked about stress and anxiety.

Unfortunately, Rajni said they haven't been able to reach Indians with an English language barrier. Because of privacy issues - they aren't able to contact families those families that would benefit from the program. "That really hurts, because those are the people we want to reach," Rajni adds.