The international situation facing children today has never been worse, or the need for care more pressing. Of the more than 3 billion children in the world under the age of 15, 145 million (UNICEF 2009) are orphans: the need for orphan care is both immediate and enormous. While Hope for the Nations is incapable of meeting this need alone, or even making a dent in it, we - like you - are capable of helping some children, of raising awareness, and of facilitating and partnering with other organizations and individuals to assist in this crisis.
WHO ARE CHILDREN AT RISK?
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children who lack access to the following rights are considered “at risk”:
- Food
- Love and Security
- Survival and Development
- Parental Care
- A Decent Place to Live
- Health and Health Services
- Protection From Abuse
- Education
- Rest and Leisure
Hope for the Nations focuses its efforts on orphans and vulnerable children in developing countries; this group of children typically lack most of these basic rights.
HOPE IN ACTION:
Although the global situation looks disheartening, HFTN operates from a stance of hope:
- We believe in the rights of the child.
- We believe in the potential and destiny of each child.
- We believe that intervention makes a tremendous difference in the life of a child.
- We believe children are worth fighting for.
- We believe in “a world fit for children”.
- We believe today’s orphans will be tomorrow’s leaders.
We cannot achieve this alone. We need the collective heart, energy and resources of each person, community, corporation and government. Our hope is that these children will one day be leaders and adults of integrity in their communities and countries.
OUR PHILOSOPHY OF CARE
All organizations who work with children at-risk agree that orphans are vulnerable and need to be cared for, but organizations and child care experts have varying opinions on how best to do that. However, over the long term all agree that orphans and vulnerable children need to be cared for in a context in which they feel that they belong. Like every one of us, these children deserve the right to belong in a family and within a community.
The criticism and difficulty with traditional “residential care” situations is that children who are cared for in large institutional settings miss the essential “family” experience growing up. The orphaned child has been kept alive and healthy but faces many social challenges as an adult; many are unable to integrate into their societies successfully.
So how does Hope for the Nations handle this dilemma? How do we help to care for orphans in a way that is mindful of their emotional needs as developing children? While recognizing that children are best cared for in their natal community, Hope for the Nations recognizes that some children have no opportunity for loving care within their extended family. Thus, Hope for the Nations believes that the best solution for these children is in the development of small, community-based Children’s Homes and foster arrangements.