Haiti Stronger: Healing and Hope for ALL Children

In Haiti, access to healthcare is a daily challenge—made even more complex for families living in the constant crisis that persists in the country. And it is even more challenging for children with disabilities who often face stigma, rejection, and abandonment.

Through Overture’s work within our Healthcare Pillar, we strive to ensure that comprehensive medical care is accessible to every family we serve. To accomplish this, we’ve built strong partnerships with local clinics, doctors, and nurses who provide exceptional care in a region where that is so rare.

But while medical treatment is essential, our deepest and most urgent focus lies in an area too often overlooked even in healthcare models in more developed countries: mental health and psychosocial support. This is especially vital for children with disabilities and those returning home after years in harmful orphanages.

Elysee's Journey From Abandonment

This past year, Hurricane Melissa exposed the extreme vulnerability of children with special needs. As floodwaters overcame a local hospital, eight children with disabilities were left behind in the chaos. Among them was Elysee.

Elysee was abandoned at the hospital in September 2024. He lived in the pediatric ward for over a year, receiving basic medical survival care for Cerebral Palsy, but lacking the consistent love of a family. When the hurricane hit, he was left behind.

But his story didn’t end there.

Because of donors like you, Overture and our partner IBESR stepped in. Elysee was rescued and brought to our Community Complex for Child Protection. He arrived small for his age, battling seizures and muscle spasms, and without any family connections to anchor him.

Today, Elysee is safe. He is receiving specialized medical care for his condition, but more importantly, he is being seen. We are currently working to equip him with a wheelchair so he can move with dignity, and our ultimate goal is to place him in a specialized foster family - trained and supported by Overture - where he will be loved, not just treated.

Why Mental Health Matters - Especially for Haiti’s Most Vulnerable

Sadly, abandonment of children with special needs is far too common in Haiti. These children are often viewed as much too heavy of a burden on the family or community. The crisis created by the hurricane opened a door through which we could intervene, providing these children with the love, advocacy, and mental health support to help them heal from their trauma.

While foreign medical teams often arrive in emergencies to provide physical care, there are few sustainable resources in Haiti addressing the emotional and psychological wounds left by trauma, neglect, disability, and institutionalization. This is where Overture’s experience makes a lasting impact.

Our comprehensive psychosocial support programs work to:

• Alleviate emotional suffering

• Strengthen social connectedness

• Build coping strategies

• Facilitate long-term healing and recovery

Supporting Parents As They Also Learn to Heal

Healing doesn’t stop with the child. It must also extend to the primary caregivers.

Parents often carry their own trauma, intensified by Haiti’s instability and economic hardship. Overture’s social workers walk alongside parents, providing counseling, practical parenting guidance, and training on caring for children with behavioral or special needs.

Placement of children with disabilities into loving foster families requires strong, resourced support plans. Foster parents assume full-time caregiving responsibilities; Overture covers transportation, medical costs, case management, and ongoing psychosocial care. This partnership ensures these children are not just housed - they are loved, valued, and given a chance to thrive.

Building Haiti Stronger Through Holistic Healthcare

Overture’s Healthcare Pillar is about more than just treatment; it’s about transformation.

We believe deeply that every child - no matter their condition - is worthy of growing within a loving family, supported physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

By investing in Overture’s mental health and psychosocial programs, donors are not simply funding services. They are helping restore dignity, rebuild families, and give Haiti’s most vulnerable children the opportunity to experience joy, connection, and the safety of being truly seen.

This is how we build Haiti Stronger—one child, one family, one community at a time.