Thank you again to everyone who gave so generously to the Child Liberation Initiative. I am so grateful!
Last summer, with the extraordinarily generous support we received, we invested in the development of a network of Welcoming Families like Cassie’s to care for newly freed girls and boys.
Today, thanks to people like you who care, when adult survivors free children trapped in slavery, families like Cassie’s are there to provide a safe haven for them while the authorities search for their relatives and build a case against their captors.
“The children who I care for at my home, it’s as if they are my family,” Cassie said. “They become part of my family and they make it bigger.”
Identifying a temporary home where formerly enslaved children can find not just shelter and a warm meal, but a caregiver trained to cope with the trauma that children have experienced, is critical to a child’s sense of safety and well-being.
“One of the children I hosted lived through many violent experiences,” Cassie said. “She came from the countryside, very far away, sent by her father to live with someone he didn’t even know. After she escaped the violence, I was asked to care for her. I had more patience with her than any other child I hosted. I had to.”
Even Cassie’s daughter helps to care for the children that are temporarily living with her family. “She loves them, she cares for them, she plays with them,” Cassie said.
The support of people like you also provides training for adult survivors to intervene in cases of slavery and abuse, and plans are in the works to train 10 Welcoming Families like Cassie’s to work hand-in-hand with 12 chapters of adult survivors in Port-au-Prince — also thanks to the generosity of our donors.
Another 10 Welcoming Families will be trained to work with Child Protection Brigades on Lagonav Island.
Cassie said she sees her work as a Welcoming Family as nothing less than an investment in the future of her country.
“When you help a child in need today, you never know what they will become tomorrow — a lawyer, a doctor. I’d be so happy to see [every child I host] go far in life and live in a stable, happy home,” Cassie said.
Thank you again to everyone who gave, for making the work of Welcoming Families like Cassie’s possible. Your generosity, your care, and your concern is freeing enslaved children and getting them the care they need to begin healing.
With deep gratitude,
David
