Protecting Children in Haiti - Orphanages are NOT the Answer!
June 15, 2024 E-Newsletter
Each year on June 1 the world celebrates International Children's Day. In Haiti, the entire month of June is celebrated as International Children's Month with a huge emphasis on child protection and raising awareness about children's rights in the country. Overture and our communities have taken the lead in planning activities that brought together various partners and communities and focused on a wide range of topics.
Here is just a sample of the events we’re helping to facilitate this month:
Collaborating with IBESR and other child protection partners focused on better serving the children, partners meet and collaborate on the activities they’ve done throughout the year, as well as discuss the current needs and how best to meet them collectively.
Hosting workshops with community leaders and parents with IBESR to educate and train on ways we can better serve and protect vulnerable children and their families.
Creating activities and opportunities for street children to engage with the community, giving social workers the opportunity to speak to the kids and learn about their current situations and explore the potential of reunifying them with their families or identifying foster family options.
Partnering with several different communities of children where we provided education on their rights, held psychosocial activities, gave kids opportunities to express themselves and discuss their challenges and obstacles to success, and helped them set goals for themselves.
Together with IBESR, we began a training series for foster parents who have recently received children. This series allows them to express their experiences and receive education and counseling.
Our team facilitated, along with IBESR and other child protection partners, events that allowed children to be children, such as dancing and soccer.
All of these events are facilitated in cooperation with our partners and IBESR and give us opportunities to identify children in need and connect them with available resources to assist them. During June, we are also focused on reaching adults, including teachers, parents and community leaders, to provide training and education around children’s rights, child protection, identifying warning signs of abuse, neglect, trauma and other issues often faced by children in Haiti. As an Overture ally, you know that protecting children is central to our mission and at the core of our efforts in southern Haiti.
You can read more about how your investment in our efforts is making a difference in our Stories of Impact.
Orphanages are NOT the Answer!
A significant focus of Overture’s child protection work is ending the broken Haitian orphanage system that has and is causing deep harm to thousands of children trapped in its grip. Through our ongoing Orphanages are NOT the Answer series we’ve explained how this destructive system is perpetuated by foreign entities and what it will take to end it and to reunify the children with their families or place them with foster families. Overture is not alone in voicing our opposition to the harmful involvement of foreigners, even well-meaning Christian ones, as noted in this recent Religion News article. We must continue to fight for the children in Haiti, which means we must enlighten our brothers and sisters in Christ that the command to serve orphans and widows should actually call us to end support of these harmful practices often encouraged by the church. We know that for many of us this is not an easy truth to hear. But we must heed the call.
If you haven’t read the first two installments in our Orphanages are NOT the Answer series, you can do so here. And please keep an eye out for the final installment in the coming months. We hope you will join us in this important work!
Thank you and God bless you!
To learn more about Overture’s work and how you can continue to fulfill your Haiti Promise, please visit our Haiti Promise Page. It's not too late to make your Haiti Promise today, click below to make a donation!
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