Empowering Families and Communities for the Protection of Children

Overture believes strongly that the best way to protect a child is to keep families together through empowerment efforts - not just the family, but the community and agencies that surround them. Across southern Haiti, we’re witnessing an incredible transformation. With your support and our partnership with IBESR (Haiti's Child Welfare Agency), we’ve helped turn what was a traditional orphanage into Haiti’s first "Community Complex for Child Protection", a revolutionary model that is strengthening the national child welfare system from within. This is what Haitian-led solutions look like: families restored, communities strengthened, and futures built on empowerment, not dependency. That’s what Haiti Stronger looks like. 

But this important milestone is not the end; it is just the beginning!

It is the beginning of creating new opportunities to overcome systemic issues that lead to putting children at risk of being separated from their families and turned over to harmful orphanages. It’s the beginning of expanding Haitian-led programs that strengthen families and communities. And it is the beginning of developing even more powerful partnerships focused on protecting children, empowering families and building community. 

Empowering Families

True empowerment begins at home. For too long, poverty has been the driving force behind family separation in Haiti — not neglect or lack of love, but lack of opportunity. Through family-strengthening programs, parents are gaining access to tools and training that help them provide for their children with dignity. By empowering families to care for their own children, we’re addressing the root causes of child abandonment. And when families thrive, children not only survive - they have the opportunity to thrive.

Keep reading to learn the story of one such Haitian child - Emile. 

Emile’s Haiti Stronger Journey: From Orphanage to Home

For most of his young life, Emile (now age 16) knew only the experience of living in orphanages. He could only dream of a home with a family who would protect and care for him. That dream finally became a reality when Emile was removed from the orphanage system and, with the support of Overture and IBESR, was welcomed into his foster family. For the first time, he had a family who supported and encouraged him. In his new home, Emile began to grow in ways that weren’t possible before. His new family gave him what every child deserves: protection, stability, affection, and a sense of belonging.

Today, Emile is emotionally, socially, and academically thriving in his new family. He continues to attend school, where his dedication and curiosity have enabled him to be a successful student. He talks often about his future and has new dreams – becoming a doctor or a social worker so he can help others the way he has been helped.

At home, Emile has become an important part of the family’s life. Only five months after joining his foster family, Emile is thriving.  He participates in daily chores, takes part in family discussions, and is full of joy and purpose. He loves helping in their small shop, where he has learned to count change, and customers affectionately greet him by name. Emile and his family are active in their church, where he’s currently studying for a Bible contest. 

Emile’s transformation is truly a beautiful picture of what happens when a child who once knew only institutions discovers what it means to find a home and a family where he is safe and protected. Emile and his new family are playing a significant role in building Haiti Stronger!

Empowering Communities

Lasting change only happens when communities are equipped to protect their most vulnerable. Overture’s education initiatives teach neighbors, churches, and local leaders about the importance of children growing up in safe, loving families and equipping them to make progress in that direction. We’ve seen a growing number of families volunteer to foster children once they understand how vital it is for every child to experience the love and care of a family. It’s a quiet but powerful shift as community leaders and members step up, take ownership, and prioritize child protection. When communities are stronger, they make Haiti Stronger! 

Empowering Systems

Empowerment doesn’t stop with families and communities - it extends to the systems in Haiti. Through collaboration with Haiti’s child welfare authority, IBESR, Overture is helping strengthen the nation’s capacity to promote and manage child protection independently. Our goal isn’t to override or replace Haitian institutions – it is to reinforce them.

Too often, foreign NGOs flood the country after crises, taking over essential services that Haitian agencies should lead. While many bring help in the moment, the long-term effects build dependency, creating a cycle in which outside organizations thrive through crisis fundraising, while Haiti’s systems weaken.

With the support of donors and the work of our friends in southern Haiti, we’re breaking that cycle. Together, we’re investing in the capacity of Haitian leaders, social workers, and institutions to stand on their own - to build a framework of care that lasts long after international aid fades away. 

The Work Continues

We celebrate the small victories - the families reunited, the children who finally have a place to call home, the communities rallying to care for their own. But we also know that this journey is far from over.

Haiti remains a nation plagued by poverty, political instability, and the constant threat of natural disasters that can erase progress overnight. For every step forward, some setbacks test our resolve. The change we’re pursuing takes time, faith, patience, and above all, belief in the people of Haiti. Because real, lasting transformation doesn’t happen in a moment - it happens over generations. And with your continued support, we can keep moving toward that vision: a Haiti that is Haitian-led, Haitian-sustained, a Haiti Stronger than ever.

Join Us in Building Haiti Stronger

Every child in Haiti is worthy of the chance to grow up in a family that loves and protects them. Every Haitian parent desires the opportunity to protect and provide for their children. Every community seeks to lead its own people and future. Together, we are building Haiti Stronger — empowering one child, one family, and one community at a time.