Notes from the Field: Whitehorse's Little Feet Big Steps

Redirecting support for Haitian orphanages

By Sarah Forrest and Morgan Wienberg

The devastating 7 .0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 dominated headlines around the world . Seeing the images of the destruction from her home in Whitehorse, then-18-year-old Morgan Wienberg was inspired to help .

Wienberg travelled to Haiti and began volunteering in an orphanage, where she quickly learned the dark reality of the orphanage system . The majority of the children in the orphanage were not orphans in the traditional sense, but instead were economic orphans — children who had been separated from their families because their parents could not afford to care for them . This is true for more than 80 per cent of children living in orphanages worldwide . Even worse, shocking abuse and neglect were taking place, which is the case in the majority of Haiti’s orphanages . There are more than 750 orphanages in Haiti, 95 per cent of which fail to meet national minimum standards of care . Most operate as for-profit businesses, exploiting children to receive foreign aid and volunteers . The harmful outcomes for children are countless, and include neglect, abuse, slavery and human trafficking .

Motivated to help create positive sustainable change for children and their families, Wienberg and fellow Canadian Sarah Martin co-founded Little Footprints Big Steps (LFBS) in 2011 . Based in Les Cayes, Haiti, LFBS’s team of Haitian child protection agents, medical professionals and advocates work with local authorities to reunify separated children with their families or find alternative, communitybased care . Once a child’s family has been traced, LFBS assesses the family’s overall state of vulnerability and develops a plan for family strengthening . This requires making sure that a child has access to education, housing, nutrition and medical care . It also addresses the root cause of why that child was separated from his or her family in the first place, which for most families is poverty . Addressing poverty requires empowering parents to have a means of income generation . LFBS runs two initiatives that promote income opportunities — business start-ups and agriculture and livestock farming .

In August 2021, Haiti was hit with another powerful earthquake, this time centred in the southwest where LFBS is located . More than 800,000 people were affected, with 12,000 injured, 2,200 killed, and 137,000 homes destroyed or damaged, as were medical facilities, schools, government buildings and businesses .

The LFBS team sprang into action, providing emergency relief to children, their families and communities . Since the earthquake hit, LFBS has reached nearly 3,000 families in 29 different communities with emergency aid . As focus transitions to long-term recovery efforts, LFBS is preparing to co-ordinate housing repairs and reconstruction, small business reinforcement and mental health support for the most deeply affected survivors .

In addition to programming in child well-being and development, family and community development and community health, LFBS works to educate on how to better facilitate foreign aid . Mistakes by the international community in 2010 must not be repeated . It is critical that donors and organizations direct their donations and relief to the Haitian people, and that foreign aid does not undermine Haitian laws, the economy or the work of local

Little Footprints Big Steps staff members evaluate housing repairs.

The charity was founded to create positive sustainable change for children and their families in Haiti.

A Little Footprints Big Steps staff member facilitates training on anti-violence and abuse prevention in a school. authorities . There are many trustworthy, locally based organizations in Haiti that work directly with Haitian communities .

It is now illegal to start new orphanages in Haiti . The 2010 earthquake saw a huge increase in the number of orphanages and authorities are still trying to shut them all down . Orphanages harm children . North American donors represent 83 per cent of funding to Haitian orphanages, more than US $100 million annually . An enormous opportunity exists to redirect the flow of funds from orphanages to support children in family environments . In Haiti — and around the world — there’s a growing movement to support childprotection reform and the process of deinstitutionalizing children in favour of family and community-based care . Positive change is happening and possible . Those who want to help vulnerable children must join this movement by supporting local, community-based organizations that work in collaboration with Haitian authorities to support children in family and community settings .

Sarah Forrest is the director of philanthropy and communications at LFBS and Morgan Wienberg is executive director and co-founder .

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