Rescue and transformation of children and youth that come from hard situations is complicated work that requires patience, love, and expertise. Though the center of our approach is family-style care, we also use various professional techniques and expertise to help ensure the best results possible for each youth.
Our residential programs in the Dominican Republic largely receive children determined by the state to have no safe medium- or long-term living situation. We provide a substitute family and loving home on one of our campuses. From there, a multidisciplinary team goes to work in the process of restoration and transformation for each child.
At each site, an education specialist makes an annual plan and helps address the child’s specific learning needs. A spiritual director addresses both individual and group development needs. Our psychologists and health specialists guide the process of both emotional and physical development. And finally, a social worker helps with both life and job skills development. The directors and social workers also help keep active connections with any biological members of the child’s family.
When possible, social workers continue to engage and guide biological family members, hoping for a family reconciliation in the future. At the center of all this is the love, teaching, and advice of our house parents, who strive to meet daily needs and guide the child’s development.
Our work has been recognized for excellence by the Dominican government and has been so successful that most of our youth, despite rough beginnings, finish high school in a country where less than 20% have completed high school.
We also are among the rare residential programs to offer continued education and university scholarships to our youth post-graduation as part of a young adult independence program. Most of our youth profess their faith in Christ while living in our residential homes, and many choose to be baptized as teenagers and continue with their church affiliation as adults.
Recently, we have increased efforts to restore youth with their biological families. After a careful assessment of the child and their family member’s situation, we facilitate their reintegration, allowing them to develop and enjoy this God-given relationship and be a blessing to themselves, their families, and their communities.
