We put family first here at Hands & Feet Project. Our deepest desire is to see families stay together. When this isn’t possible, we work to make sure each child experiences the love of family while in our care. As we partner with supporters like you, we put our words into action through the Preserving Families Project and the Providing Families Project. While these projects have slightly different names, there are distinctions that make each program unique.
Although the vast majority of families are committed to caring for their children, it is not uncommon that societal or financial challenges simply get in the way and create the risk of child abandonment
Purpose: We are committed to fighting to keep families together. Our Preserving Families Project exists to help families create a healthy, thriving environment for their children.
Purpose to Action: We provide support and guidance through interventions that combat the orphan crisis and abandonment cycles in Haiti. Through our actions, we hope families will remain together. Our Preserving Families Project consists of two programs: Stronger Together and Little Hands Daycare. Both exist to help families thrive.
- Little Hands Daycare offers parents high-quality daycare at no cost as they work or support children with special needs. The program allows the mother and father to maintain their job, provide for their family, and allow their young children to start learning at an early age, while most importantly being exposed to the gospel.
- Stronger Together provides spiritual, physical, educational, and emotional resources for families in our communities needing assistance. This includes both families new to Hands & Feet Project and the families of children who once lived at our Children’s Village and then were reunified with their families. We begin by assessing a family’s current strengths and abilities. We then walk alongside each family unit and provide resources that help them thrive by challenging cyclical challenges of lack of education, malnutrition, and developmental delays. In addition to advocating for their educational and physical care, we also serve as a spiritual and emotional resource for these children and families.
- Our staff on the ground in Haiti puts their heart and soul into coming alongside and supporting the families in our Preserving Families Project. We rejoice every time a family makes the commitment to stay together.
When a child has lost or limited connection to their biological family, the resulting separation and isolation can have dramatic effects on their social, physical, and spiritual development leading to cycles of material and spiritual impoverishment.
Purpose: We believe every child should experience the joy of family regardless of where they live. Our Providing Families Project provides high-quality care until each child under our guardianship transitions into independence.
Purpose to Action: We train and develop a qualified, trauma-competent team of caregivers who come alongside each child in their home. They provide both a safe place and nurturing relationships. Our Providing Families Project consists of our various Residential Care Programs. All of our Child Sponsorships fall under the Providing Families Project.
-
Our team supports children and young adults throughout each stage of their life, from infancy, through adolescence, and into personal independence and community interdependence.
-
Many children first experience Providing Families through our Residential Care & Support Program. Children receive a complete Circle of Care (physical, spiritual, emotional, and educational) from our staff as they live at our Children’s Village.
-
Living and learning together in our Children’s Villages, children who have otherwise limited or no connection with their biological families become family to one another and to their caregivers. We share with them the day-to-day experiences of a family — complete with the tears and laughter that every family experiences!
-
Additionally, we developed the Community-Based Residential Care Program to provide support for children who have a recognizable need for more one-on-one care. We place them with families in the community. Both Hands & Feet Project and IBESR, Haiti’s Child Protective Services, approve the families.
-
Joining our Transitional Care & Support Program is often the next step for our young adults (ages 18-21). We help continue to feel at home as they live in the community with Resident Assistants, whom we have approved. This environment outside of our Children’s Village helps them grow in personal independence; it also teaches them the value of living and learning in the community. Young adults in this program also receive support for schooling, food, and utilities, while being encouraged to find jobs so that they are able to become self-supporting, gain the confidence of independence, and be fully connected to their community.
If you would like to learn more about the different ways we prioritize family here at Hands & Feet Project and how you can partner with us in our work, contact us today.