All too often, interconnecting factors like poverty, access to healthcare and education, and a misrepresentation of the orphanage system mean parents are unnecessarily separated from the children they love. Today, and every day, we support parents and fight to keep families together. Because children deserve families, never harmful orphanages.

Here are 3 incredible stories of love from parents worldwide, and the work we have done to support them.  

Fighting to keep their family together

Vasilica* was only four months old and his sister, Ecaterina*, was just one when they were sent to live in the orphanage. Vasilica was born prematurely with cerebral palsy. Poverty and discrimination made it very hard for his mum, Ana*, to care for him alone, without adequate support. 

The authorities thought both her children would be better off in an institution. But orphanages don’t protect children, they harm them. 

Ana battled for two years to bring her children home again. Through our local partners, CCF Moldova, we made sure she had the practical and emotional support that she needed to succeed. “I saw that Ana loved her children and she fought for them,” says Natalia, the experienced social worker who stood by her, every step of the way. 

In the orphanage, Vasilica spent long hours alone in a cot with no one to play with him, encourage him or love him. Today, reunited with his family, he’s a very active, much-loved little boy who likes building tall towers with his wooden blocks and playing chase with his sister.  

Read their story in full 

Creating a new family for Uwera*

One evening, Atete heard cries from the trees near her yard. There, she found Uwera, a newborn baby girl, abandoned on the ground. Atete scooped Uwera up, took her home and cared for her for three weeks while the community tried to find Uwera’s parents. Once it was clear that no trace could be found, the authorities insisted that Uwera must be taken to an orphanage. Atete was heartbroken. She knew that the last thing an orphanage would provide was the first thing that Uwera needed: someone to love her. 

For two years, Uwera struggled in terrible conditions in two different orphanages. She slept on the floor with insects crawling over her and she was fed just once every 24 hours. Shouted at if she made the slightest noise, Uwera stayed silent and struggled simply to survive. 

Luckily, following a new commitment by the Rwandan Government to end the use of orphanages, our specialist child protection team in Rwanda was able to work with their local authority partners to close the orphanage and give Uwera back her childhood, reuniting her with Atete. 

Uwera has been with her new family for 3 years now. Today, she’s walking and talking, running and jumping.  Atete’s older children love to play in their little home. Soon Uwera will begin nursery alongside the other children in her community, and Atete has applied to officially adopt her so that they’ll never be separated again. 

Read their story in full 

Rebuilding their family with love

One morning in 2013, Devi was travelling with her mother when their train stopped at a busy railway junction. Without telling her mum, Devi jumped down to fill up her water bottle. While her back was turned, the signal changed and their train pulled out, leaving Devi behind. 

For the next seven years, Devi was moved from institution to institution, but no effort was ever made to trace her relatives and reunite her with her family.  

In 2015, Devi was sent to live in a shelter for girls in the heart of Ranchi City, the capital of Jharkhand state. This is where she first met Neepa, a social worker with the development NGO, CINI. With support from Hope and Homes for Children, Neepa and her colleagues worked with Devi to recall details about her childhood, contacting local authorities and visiting station after station and asking local people if they knew of a child going missing seven years ago. Until, finally, they found her family again. 

When Devi’s father saw her again after seven long years, tears of joy rolled down his face. Sadly, Devi’s mother had never returned but her father now had a new partner and a son. Devi’s oldest sister lived with them too.  

The day that Devi officially rejoined her family was very moving for everyone. “Devi cried with emotion as she struggled to find the confidence she needed for the next stage of her extraordinary journey,” Neepa said. “Then she hugged her parents and smiled back at us as she stepped back into a life of love, affection and family care again at last,” she remembers. 

Read their story in full 

How we support families 

We keep families together, we reunite families, and we create new families. Family, children and parents are at the heart of everything we do. The three stories shared above show how our global teams work tirelessly to keep families together.  

We believe that a child is always better off as part of a strong, supported family. That’s why we’re working to close the doors of orphanages forever so that no child has to be separated from their parents and face the long-lasting harm orphanages cause.   

If you would like to donate to our work supporting loving parents and keeping families together, you can do so here. Thank you.

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The post 3 incredible stories of love from parents worldwide  appeared first on Hope and Homes for Children.

Read part one of Richard’s blog here

We were only able to fully close an orphanage in the Gatsibo district due to the willingness of local community members to foster the children and young adults who we couldn’t reunite with their biological families. One of these couples is Rugwiro* and his wife Masaro*, who agreed to foster a 24-year-old young man called Ndoli*. Ndoli has epilepsy and mental impairment and had been living at the orphanage for many years, since he was young.  

Rugwiro has always had a passion for supporting vulnerable children. Having lost his parents at a young age, he grew up caring for his younger siblings. Eager to help children in his community, he became a ‘Friend of Families’ – a community-based volunteer in charge of upholding children’s rights within their local area. And was later elected to be the leader for the wider sector.

In his role, Rugwiro supports families to stay together, helps resolve family conflicts, and encourages families to keep their children in school and fulfil children’s rights.  

Still, Rugwiro wanted to do more to protect children. So, when he heard from local leaders that Hope and Homes for Children was recruiting foster families for children with disabilities, he offered to become a foster parent. We provided him with all the support and training he needed, and soon Rugwiro and his wife were welcoming Ndoli into their home.  

When we asked Rugwiro why he wanted to adopt Ndoli, he told me:

“I cannot stand to see children suffering; they are our future as a country. When I was a child, I was supported by someone from the community – he forged me into the person that I am today. It is my turn to give back the kindness I have received in my past.”     

When he first joined the family, Ndoli was not very communicative or responsive and was unable to do simple tasks. But after living with his new family for a few months and getting the individual love and attention he needed, he soon learned how to do new things, like helping with household chores, feeding the family cow, and harvesting the fields with his new dad.  

Being more active made a big difference and helped improve his speech and memory. Now he can communicate more easily and even remember details of his life before he went to the orphanage. For example, sometimes when he sits with his foster parents, he recalls songs he sung when he was a young boy. And he counts from one to ten, suggesting that he once went to primary school. Best of all, since living with his new family, Ndoli has seizures far less frequently. And when he does have them, he gets lots of love and care.  

Rugwiro is a proud foster parent:

“We have set an example. Ndoli is one of my greatest achievements. Neighbours always ask me how I done this. They are amazed by what we have achieved by receiving him into our family. We encourage others to foster vulnerable children as well, especially children with special needs.” 

Cover image: Foster parents Masaro* and Rugwiro*. Credit: Jean Bizimana / Hope and Homes for Children

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One evening, Atete heard cries from the trees near her yard. There, she found Uwera, a newborn baby girl, abandoned on the ground. Atete did not hesitate. She scooped Uwera up, took her home and cared for her for three weeks while the community tried to find Uwera’s parents. Once it was clear that no trace could be found, the authorities insisted that Uwera must betaken to an orphanage. Atete was heart-broken. She knew that the last thing an orphanage would provide was the first thing that Uwera needed; someone to love her.

There are now decades of reliable research to show that orphanages do not protect children, they harm them. Orphanages expose children to neglect and abuse and deny them the love and individual care that’s so crucial to their development and well-being.

Atete was determined to do all she could to help Uwera survive alone in the orphanage without her. She spent far more than she could afford, buying clean feeding bottles, ensuring the Uwera was vaccinated and registering her birth. And once Uwera entered the institution, Atete and her children tried to visit as often as they could, despite the many obstacles that were placed in their way by the staff.

After a year and without any warning, Uwera was transferred to another institution, over 50 miles away. No one would tell Atete where to find her. Our team in Rwanda tell us that conditions in the second orphanage were some of the worst they have ever seen.

For the next 18 months, Uwera was confined to a single room alongside fifty other children. She was left for days on end in the same, filthy nappy. She slept on the floor with insects crawling over her and she was fed just once every 24-hours. Shouted at if she made the slightest noise, Uwera stayed silent and struggled simply to survive. As a result of this abuse and neglect, by the time she was two and half, Uwera was still tiny for her age and she could neither walk nor talk.

Thankfully, by this time, the Rwandan Government’s groundbreaking commitment to end the use of orphanages meant that our specialist child protection team in Rwanda was able to work with their local authority partners to close the orphanage and give Uwera back her childhood.

Our first step was to discover as much as we could about Uwera’s story in case there was a chance to reunite her with her birth family. That is when we learned about Uwera’s existing bond with her foster mother and approached Atete to see if she would be able to welcome Uwera back into her home. Atete was overjoyed at the chance to be reunited with the baby girl that she had rescued and taken to her heart once before.

A skilled social worker from our local team was assigned to the case and carried out the appropriate checks to make sure that the match would be safe and sustainable for Uwera. Then they worked with Atete and her family to make sure they had the training and resources they needed to care for Uwera and help her to overcome the trauma of her time in the orphanage.

Atete remembers how shocked she was when she first saw Uwera again; she was so tiny and frail. “I felt as though I was carrying a dead body,” Atete told us. When she bathed Uwera, water pooled in the deep gaps between her daughter’s neck and her collarbones. But since then, with great love and patience, Atete has begun to rebuild Uwera’s strength and confidence.

Uwera has been with her new family for 2 years now and today she can walk and talk, she can run and she can jump. Atete’s older children love to play with their little home. Soon she will begin nursery, alongside the other children in her community, and Atete has applied to officially adopt Uwera so that they can never be separated again.

Like Uwera, for children confined to an orphanage, whose birth families are unable to keep them safe, an alternative family solution is always best.

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