CHILDREN IN CRISIS NEWS
Orphaned in Haiti
Crisis Care Training International is grateful for the opportunity to go to Haiti July 26 with World Orphans. World Orphans work in conjunction with local churches. They have 20 Haitian churches willing to help care for the earthquake orphans. Our task is to conduct trauma training for orphan caregivers; keep us in your prayers. World Orphan's website states:
The confirmed earthquake death toll in Haiti is now well over 200,000. With countless collapsed buildings still unmoved, that number will rise. That means there are thousands of orphans, children who lost one or both parents as a result of this catastrophe.
Placing children in orphanages has been the primary mechanism of orphan care in Haiti for some time. But these orphanages are now overwhelmed with children. But as the Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) saw during their initial deployment in February, many of the children orphaned by the earthquake have been taken in by extended families, friends and neighbors. Orphans are being cared for in families!
The challenge before us is to support these families as they care for the orphans, preventing them from being abandoned as resources continue to be stretched thin and families struggle to make ends meet. Through church-to-church partnerships the U.S. partner church will provide resources and support so that the Haitian church can implement an Orphan and Vulnerable Child (OVC) program. Under the Haiti OVC program, each Haitian church will care for 20 orphans and vulnerable children (See details of their program and strategy on: worldorphans.org.)
