Our Reintegration Program Has Officially Launched!
We are so excited to see the last few months of program development and planning turn into action as we officially launched our reintegration program alongside the Honduran welfare office!
This program aims to help more kids living in orphanages return home to their families. We know family is the best environment for a child to grow up in, but poverty can create harsh conditions where a kid's well-being is at risk.
Alongside the social workers from the welfare office, we meet the families of kids living in orphanages and assess the factors preventing the child from returning home. We then create a plan based on the family's needs to help them reach their potential and be the safest and healthiest option for their child. These plans look different for each family because they have different strengths and areas of concern, and the reason kids were separated from their families varies. But we believe that if we come alongside families, we can empower them and enable them to provide the best possible childhood for a child.
In the last few weeks, we have visited four different families. These are family members who have requested for their children, grandchildren, and nieces to return home. Each of their stories are different, and their needs are unique, but here are a few things we have seen that are true for all of them:
They are families who all have seen a lifetime of setbacks, poverty, natural disasters, and heartache. Still, they are relentless in their drive to see a better tomorrow for their kids.
They are families that, despite all that they have gone through, are full of hope.
They are willing to take on the responsibility of raising and defending their kids.
They all have limited material resources, but they have so much to offer their kids. - far more valuable than any material thing.
They are willing to do the hard work, to do whatever it takes to be together again.
They all want their children to be safe at home.
A mentor of mine once told me that it's impossible to teach desire. You can teach skills and provide resources, but without desire these won't be of any use.
All of these families have the desire to be together and to care for their children. They have just come face to face with many difficulties, but none of the difficulties are without a solution.
It was never more apparent that these families have the DESIRE to get their kids back and care for them than when we visited a single dad whose five-year-old son was taken away from him because a neighbor reported him as looking malnourished. The boy's weight wasn't in the range that was normal for his age, so the authorities took the child to an orphanage that focuses on nutrition to get his weight back on track.
(Oftentimes, once a kid enters an orphanage, even one that has short-term goals based on nutrition or medical needs, the child ends up spending the rest of their childhood in an orphanage. Simply because there has not been enough administrative help in the welfare office for monitoring children's cases.)
We went with the welfare office to meet this dad and figure out a plan for him and his son. He is a single dad and a farmer overseeing several properties, and one of the properties has a small home for him to stay in as the land manager. We learned that the child's biological mother left when he was just 22 days old and that the dad had taken full responsibility for him. He bought him formula, fed him, and took him everywhere he went. He made the promise always to put him first because his dad had abandoned him when he was a kid, and he never wanted to put his child through what he had gone through.
When the welfare office told him that the land manager's house on the property was missing some of the basic needs that the child would need to return home, he was devastated. Still, he quickly mentioned a few different aunts and uncles who lived nearby and he asked if we could go and see if they had the necessary conditions to take him in. At least then, he would be able to spend every evening with him and be able to take care of him, even if it wasn't under the same roof.
When the social workers told him they would like to meet the extended family, he said, "follow me," and started RUNNING. We jumped in the car and followed him as he ran up and down dirt roads through the area's very mountainous terrain. About four miles later, yes FOUR MILES, we got out of the car and walked to the house only to find that the relatives he wanted to introduce us to were in the town grocery shopping. He caught his breath, not discouraged for a second, and told us that we could go see the other family, and he started RUNNING back up the dirt road.
It was 97 degrees outside, but he was not deterred by any of the obstacles in his way. He was determined to find a family member who would be able to support his son, doing whatever it took to get him back.
How many kids get the opportunity to have a dad who would RUN through every obstacle to find a solution for them?
It was clear that we don't need to teach him how to want his son or love him because it was so obvious that he already does. But we can support the physical needs and help implement training that can provide a more stable lifestyle for him and his son.
Support like helping them get a stable home that meets his son's basic needs, ensuring the environment is safe from infection and common bacterias, and providing training on nutrition and other essential things that will make sure his son gets all that his growing body needs. These simple solutions, along with other fundamental trainings, can help to ensure the preventable does not separate this family again.
We are THRILLED to get to stand with families who deeply desire to have the opportunity to raise their children. We believe that they are worth supporting and standing with, and we are thankful for people like you for choosing to stand with these families too.
Reintegration Program Process
This is a simple breakdown of the process that we follow during the reintegration program:
