Welcome, Site Partner

An insider view of Ark Constanza Children's Home 

Constanza | Dominican Republic

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Constanza TODAY'S WEATHER

Highlights

Beautiful and Efficient Child Sponsorship

Rescue and transformation of children and youth that come from hard situations is complicated work that requires patience, love, and expertise.

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Transforming children’s lives via family-style residential homes

Rescue and transformation of children and youth that come from hard situations is complicated work that requires patience, love, and expertise.

read more »

Reuniting and strengthening kids and families

While Kids Alive ministry focuses on children, we are firmly committed to – and love to – reunify children with their families and strengthen family units.   We are finding more opportunities to reintegrate children in our residential ministries with their families, using various ways to help maintain …

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“Breaking” Free!

“Spring Break” took on extra meaning for all three Kids Alive residential programs this year. For some children and youth …

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Did You Know?

Spanish is the national language, with Haitian Creole being the largest minority language

Dominican Republic is the most visited tourist destination in the Caribbean

Dominican Republic is the 2nd largest Caribbean nation, and the 3rd largest in population

Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, taking in many Haitian immigrants following the 2010 earthquake

Dominican Republic culture contains a vibrant mix of European, African, and indigenous influences


God is Working
in Constanza!

Please pray for...

Spiritual growth this summer for our children and staff as we focus on developing trust in God.

Successful completion of our summer construction of a tutoring, counseling and computer center.

Funds for summer activities such as our August family camp for all three residential sites.

Additional site partners to help meet the growing needs of our expanding residential programs. 

Prayer requests updated 06/2021

About Ark Constanza Children's Home 

up to
girls and boys living at Ark Constanza
children recently reunited with biological family

The Ark is a refuge of hope and safety for up to 40 children and youth who have come from hard places. We currently have four homes where the kids live as “families” and learn what it means to belong. Holistic care is always our goal, and the children attend school, receive counseling to cope with trauma, and hear about the love of Jesus.

Working closely with the local government, we identify the most critical of the cases that need our help. We also strive to find ways to restore biological family relationships when it is safe to do so, and last year we reunited 12 youth with their families. On a recent comprehensive government evaluation, we received an almost perfect score, and we have developed a strong relationship with a local judge who oversees children’s cases in Constanza.

As we move forward in 2020, we will be expanding our life skills training and internship programs for older Ark youth to help with smoother and better transitions to independence. As we evaluate best practices for helping kids who have experienced trauma, we hope to work with all our residential homes in DR to create a uniform operation manual. Finally, we hope to hire an additional social worker who will be focused on the restoration and/or reunification of youth with safe members of their biological families.

God is our source of strength as we share with vulnerable children of Constanza that they are loved and valued!

  • Constanza is a valley town of about 60,000 people where we serve at-risk, impoverished children
  • In our Ark home we serve orphaned or abandoned kids who have no relatives to care for them
  • A new “sensory room” helps students with special needs to feel safe and loved

Life at Ark Constanza

Close to 40 children live at Ark Constanza, where they are loved and cared for in family-style homes. These kids were either orphaned or abandoned and needed a safe, stable place to live. House parents lovingly care for their needs all day long, whether those needs are physical, emotional, or spiritual.

Kids Alive in Dominican Republic

Kids Alive staff members
Kids Alive staff in DR are nationals
+
children between ages of 3 and 22 in Kids Alive care

Dominican Republic Country Director's Update

Planting a Living Hope in Dominican Republic!

Once again, we greet you from the ministries of Kids Alive in Dominican Republic, where your partnership and your gifts are helping to plant hope in the lives of at-risk children and young people. We rejoice that this is not simply a hope for escaping poverty or for a better career – you are planting the living hope (1 Pet. 1:3) in their lives which means an eternity with the One who loves them!

Within Kids Alive DR, we have the privilege of working with over 2,000 kids between the ages of 3 and 22. While this seems like a large window of opportunity to cultivate these seeds, the culture here often works against us, making the labor difficult. And nearly all the children we serve come from, and still live inside, backgrounds of abuse, exploitation, or extreme poverty. These “hard places” make the sowing of hope a real challenge.

However, one of our great joys is seeing the visible, healthy growth in these young lives and watching them blossom into beautiful new creations before our eyes. They are developing strong roots, watered by your compassion and love, and are going on to have a positive impact on their families and communities.

All our ministries are benefiting from unprecedented favor with government officials. Our schools are receiving awards for excellence; our homes are receiving commendations for our quality care, and we’re increasingly being asked to take additional children that Dominican officials have identified as abused or neglected. We see this as a tremendous privilege – and a great responsibility. read more »

Vic-Trautwen-Ramon-Prenza
Vic-signature

Vic Trautwein
Co-Country Director
Dominican Republic

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Ramon Prenza
Co-Country Director
Dominican Republic

Learn About DR
  • Population of 10 million, with many living in extreme poverty
  • Government is a representative democracy with elections every four years
  • Poor quality education system with high dropout rates, nearly 90% in some areas
  • There is a serious problem of child labor in agricultural industries
  • Shares island of Hispaniola with Haiti, taking many Haitian immigrants following 2010 earthquake

Rejoice with us, and praise God for...

  • 12 young people graduated to independence and/or restored to their biological families
  • Graduations of 160 kids from 1st grade, 120 from 6th grade, 70 from high school, and 7 from university
  • Significant expansion of our youth clubs and sports discipleship programs
  • Unprecedented favor with local governments, including awards for excellence and approval to expand to additional grade levels
  • Welcoming of children who have been referred to us by Dominican officials after removal from their homes because of severe neglect or abuse