Reunite 75 Exploited Children with their families

Current context in Haiti

Haiti remains in a period of crisis characterized by widespread gang violence, political instability, displacement, extreme inflation, food insecurity, and hunger. Throughout this crisis, the LFBS country team continues to protect children and strengthen families by working and standing alongside Haitian children, families, communities, and child protection authorities. However, as levels of vulnerability increase, we need your help. Your support enables us to meet these escalating needs, both during this difficult period and for the long term.

Family tracing, mediation, and reunification

We work with local and national authorities to reunify  separated children with their families or find alternative, community-based care. The children who are referred to LFBS by Haitian authorities  are most often rescued from emergency situations, including  corrupt and abusive institutions that authorities are shutting  down, domestic slavery, and dangerous street conditions. Once we have traced a child’s family, our reunification process involves assessing the family’s overall state of  vulnerability, and developing a plan for family strengthening. This requires making sure that a child has access to education, nutrition and medical care, but most importantly addressing the root cause of why that child was separated from his or her family in the first place, which for the majority of families is poverty.

Orphanage Closure Project

LFBS is proud to announce that we have partnered with UNICEF on a new project working towards the closure of two orphanages in the Nippes region (in collaboration with Haitian Social Services) inclusive of providing follow-up support to the children and their families. The official start date of the project was October 1st 2024, and official end date will be September 30th 2025.

On October 16th, our team and the IBESR-Nippes (Haitian Social Services for the region in which the project is being facilitated) co-hosted an official opening ceremony for the project, informing other child protection partners in the region about this initiative. On the same day, our team had a work session with the IBESR-Nippes team to ensure that everyone has a thorough understanding of the project objectives, timeline, and each member's role within the project's success. Afterwards, our team began counseling the children currently located in the orphanages, gathering information about their families, and we have commenced family tracing and evaluation efforts.

Education & Vocational Training

Our Education & Vocational Training programming provides support to children in primary and secondary school, right through to the post secondary level. It includes basic education support for school registration, tuition, uniforms, books, and literacy tutoring. Additionally, we provide older youth with vocational and trades training. We help coordinate apprenticeships and provide support with fees for practical training costs and required materials. When necessary, we support the medical, housing and nutritional needs of the children and youth in this program stream in order to ensure they can pursue their academic success without interruption.

School is back in session

In September & October our team has been very focused on continuing to provide support to children at the start of the new academic year. 

Because of severe inflation, the cost of school and of supplies has increased significantly, which also means that access to education is more difficult for families this year. This year saw additional challenges as the closure of schools in Port au Prince due to gang violence displaced thousands of children, forcing them to flee to other parts of Haiti, causing a significant strain on educational services of schools in more rural areas. 

Our support includes providing students in our programs with backpacks, school books, uniforms (hand sewn), and making payments for tuition fees. Making tuition payments requires travel to all communities in which we intervene, as we make payments directly to each school. Supplies purchased not only support children’s access to education but also invest in the local economy. We purchase backpacks, school books, and material for uniforms from local vendors, whilst seamstresses in each community are hired to sew the uniforms. Going to school also offers students and their families a sense of stability amidst the stress and political instability in the country. 

Community Reinforcement 

We believe healthy children live in healthy communities. We work holistically with entire communities to raise awareness and facilitate community training in the prevention of violence and separation and promotion of community health and well-being. Working together with local partners and authorities, we coordinate medical and mental health support, emergency interventions, and operations. We provide legal support for victims of sexual assault and other human rights violations, support local authorities' vision for deinstitutionalization, and help provide legal documents for children who don’t have them so that they can obtain birth certificates and other government ID.

From July 2023 to July 2024, Haiti experienced an average inflation rate of  30%. The rate of inflation for food products was as high as 42.3% over the past year and the cost of access to medical care increased by an estimated 12.6%.  

Medical support 

LFBS has received many referrals from IBESR (Haitian Social Services) and other partners in numerous regions egarding children who are struggling to access urgently needed medical care. This is often due to a llack of financial means, but in most cases there are additional barriers such as lack of operational medical centers, scarcity of surgeons as so many have left the country, and transportation to operational hospitals while many roads are being controlled by gangs and air evacuation options have become very limited.

As of August 2024, LFBS provided access to medical care and support for 207 children. 

Community training in the prevention of violence and separation & promotion of community health and well-being

With the objective of reinforcing the capacity of the parents of children in LFBS programs (since parents are the primary entity responsible for children's education) the LFBS team plans continuous community dialogue sessions to discuss the themes of positive parenting and community engagement. These conversations allowed participating parents to embrace their responsibilities as parents and commit to becoming more engaged in their children's lives. Despite having weak economic means, through these conversations parents discovered many strategies and methods they can use to accompany and raise their children. 

LFBS began these community trainings in the Spring of 2024, and concluded in late summer. During this time, the LFBS team facilitated 7 community trainings, in 7 different communities, regarding positive parenting, community engagement, juvenile delinquency, and parental responsibility. 

In total, through these 7 sessions, we reached 224 participants  (154 women and 70 men).

Thank You!

Thank you for being a part of our incredible community of supporters and donors. Because of you, we are making real, impactful, and lasting changes in the lives of children, families, and communities. You are a partner in this work and we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you for your interest, support, and caring, and for being a catalyst for change.

Thank you for your shared commitment to our mission to protect vulnerable children in Haiti by reuniting families and empowering them with resources and opportunities to build a self-sufficient future.

Emergency Relief

Amidst increasing famine and malnutrition rates, our team has been engaging in emergency food staples kit distributions to provide vital supplies to those in critical need. Food supplies are becoming more rare, as ports and airports have been closed and there is limited circulation in the country. Because of this, the cost of basic food supplies is increasing and families who are already vulnerable are struggling to afford to be able to feed themselves.

The LFBS country team’s commitment has always shined while working through challenging times. In April however, our team truly went above and beyond, working around the clock to assemble emergency food kits. All staff members participated in the assembly, and stayed at the office until 10 30 pm so that they would be able to distribute them the next day to highly vulnerable families in time for Easter.

56 kits were distributed to vulnerable families across communities spanning from Les Cayes, to along the coast of the Sud Department and throughout the Grand'Anse region. Due to their remote location, these communities are not often reached with needed support, especially at times like these when travel is so limited in the country.

The 56 families who received the emergency food kits were identified by our team as being the most highly vulnerable that we are currently working with, and are in a very critical state at this time.

Rural communities in the Grand'Anse region are among the most seriously affected by the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis. Some of the families in this region who received kits had no other food in their homes, illustrating the severe economic impacts that exist across Haiti.

Each emergency food kit costs about $160 CAD and contains locally-sourced vital supplies like food staples, hygiene supplies, and medical aid. By purchasing items locally, the kits not only support vulnerable families but also supports the Haitian economy.

Opting for locally sourced food goods over imported alternatives is not only a healthier and more nutritious option, but also bolsters local production, agriculture and industry. Because of this, in addition to providing immediate aid; we’re supporting and strengthening communities for the long-term.

Family Tracing, Mediation & Reunification

In May, LFBS had our Annual Street Child meeting. Every year, on or around Haiti's National Day of the Child the LFBS team mobilizes all of the street children in Les Cayes and other parts of southern Haiti, to this meeting that is specifically for them. The objective is to inspire and motivated the street children to choose to leave the streets and return home, and go to school or learn a vocational skill. In additon to this, in collaboration with Haitian social services, the event serves as a means to document all of these children, so that there is a record of how many street children there are (to prevent traficking) and identify if any of them need urgent medical or psychological care. We have psychologists present at the event, along with different child protection actors, to speak about topics like children's rights and child protection, specifically as they relate to the street children who are attending. We also have former street children attend the event, who have been previously reunited with their families and who are getting an education and have succesfully reintergrate into their communities, and these children speak to the current street children to hopefully inspire them to make the same choice to go home. At the end of the event, any child who wants to make the choice to leave the streets is immedaitely followed up with by the LFBS team. 

This year, we decided to have our Annual Street Child meeting on the day before Haitian Flag Day, and include Haitian Flag Day celebrations into the event, which incorporates an aspect of pride and celebration of Haiti and Haitan culture. In the context of some of the challenging circumstances that exist in Haiti, the LFBS team felt it was important to remind the children of their powerful history and reinforce pride in their country, and remind them that they can be a contribution to their country and its future. This understanding is especially important when it comes to street children, because many of these children are vulnerable to being recruited into gangs, and by inspiring them to return home and make different chocies for themselves, they can see linkages to how that changes the future of their country.

Another aspect of the event that we did differently this year was to teach the kids a skill during the event. The LFBS Social Worker Intern taught all of the children how to make bracelettes, which is a skill that they can use to create and sell items that will help them generate an income. 

This year there were over 30 street children that attended the event, which is two times the number of children that were present last year. In additon to their being more street children, the kids were younger than in previous years. Most reported that the reason that they left home to go to the streets was because of hunger, and that there was not enough food at home. This shows just how important it is to empower families with resources and support so that they can stay together, and care for their children, particularly in the crisis context that Haiti is experiencing.

Community Reinforcement

During the month of June, the LFBS team planned a series of meetings with all of the parents of the children in the LFBS programs. In each community that LFBS works in, parents were enganged to learn about the intent and conditions of LFBS' work, making sure that parents have a good understanding that LFBS' support is not meant to replaee parents' responsibility, but rather is meant to reinforce and empower them, and ultimately create conditions where they are self sufficient and do not require assistance. 

The LFBS country team has found that these meetings are extremely important and make a big difference in family's perception of LFBS' support, because at the end of the day they are the ones are responsible for taking the support being provided and turning it into a tangiable difference in their lives.

Thank You!

Thank you for being a part of our incredible community of supporters and donors. Because of you, we are making real, impactful, and lasting changes in the lives of children, families, and communities. You are a partner in this work and we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you for your interest, support, and caring, and for being a catalyst for change.

Thank you for your shared commitment to our mission to protect vulnerable children in Haiti by reuniting families and empowering them with resources and opportunities to build a self-sufficient future.