“In Haiti...there are few barriers to opening an orphanage, and fewer enforcement mechanisms for child welfare officials to hold accountable the people who operate them, leaving tens of thousands of kids caught in a sprawling system that annually draws more than $100 million from American and Canadian funders. The result...is a shadowy industry where kids routinely face abuse, exploitation, living standards that don’t meet state requirements, and sometimes death....”
We recently came across an extensive article on orphanages in Haiti, “Most Children in Haitian Orphanages Aren’t Orphans…”, which serves as a reminder of what The Haitian Project has always known: Orphanages in Haiti are very often a part of the problem, not the solution.
As a THP community member, you can be proud of the fact that THP is on the right side of this issue and helps keep children in Haiti out of orphanages and where they belong: with their families.
We last wrote about these efforts in 2019 when we chronicled the work of Christina Moynihan, a long-time family missionary and founder of the LCS outreach programs, who returned children from the school's neighborhood back to their families after they had been coerced into orphanages following the 2010 earthquake.
This experience eventually led to the creation of LCS’s Koukouy Sen Kle (Fireflies of St. Clare) Early Childhood Development Program.
It’s often easier, and more lucrative, to address the symptoms and not the causes of challenges in Haiti. But we will always be a community that values "upstream” solutions and keeping families together.
Because, after all, there is no place like home.
“Keep In Touch” to receive periodic updates on our students, activities at Louverture Cleary School, and progress on the LCS Network. Together, we can build a bright and enduring future for Haiti.
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