THE POWER OF NETWORKS
life Inside issue 5
Children belong in families LIFE FOR CHILDREN AND THOSE WHO CARE FOR THEM Family global trends
page 3
Paraguay’s fresh approach page 4 to foster care Reuniting families in Myanmar
Viva Life
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EDITORIAL
Some years back, while in Asia, I supported an initiative to place children from orphanages into healthy families. Like the name of this magazine, it was called LIFE – Love in Family Environment – and we saw that children thrived so much better in loving homes than if they were to stay in an orphanage.
Viva believes that a secure family setting is the best place for a child to be. In the next few pages, read how we’re working to provide family-based care for vulnerable children through foster care in Paraguay (page 4) and by reuniting families following conflict in Myanmar (page 6). And please join us in providing a safe home for every child by making a gift towards this Christmas’ match appeal. Turn to the back cover to find out more. Thank you for the part you play in helping us to bring lasting change to children through building strong families.
© Chris Sloan
CHILDREN BELONG IN FAMILIES
FAMILY GLOBAL TRENDS The majority of children worldwide live in two-parent families. This is especially the case in Asia and the Middle East. However only 36% of children in South Africa live with two parents.
Whilst childbearing rates are declining, especially in East Asia and Europe, women in some sub-Saharan countries are having more babies than in the recent past. Women in Nigeria give birth to an average of 5.5 children.
Paul Kennel Executive Director, Viva North America
REFLECTION SEEING GOD THROUGH
CHILDREN
Every interaction Jesus had with children demonstrated that they were at the center of His heart. Before Jesus, Moses kept reminding the Israelites that children were to be there at community events.The Psalmist knew that the fatherless and lonely were to be embraced within a family (Psalm 68: 6). Paul describes in Ephesians 6, Colossians 3 and 1 Timothy how
children should be raised in safe families that set godly boundaries around them. Sadly, today, often our Christian response has ended up rather skewed. We set up orphanages and schools, and scoop up a mass of children to give them a better life. Whilst sometimes those things are temporarily needed, and are well-meaning, we may have missed the point. We need to rethink as the body of Christ how we can embrace children into our human families and into the nurturing family of God.
By Mim Friday, Viva Network Consultant for Africa (edited for publication in Life magazine).
We are an international Christian charity passionate about releasing children from poverty and abuse. We grow locally-led networks who are committed to working together so that children are safe, well and able to fulfil their God-given potential. Last year, Viva reached 2.2 million children by partnering with 38 networks and working in 26 countries. Find out more at viva.org 2
Viva Life is published three times a year by Viva Network North America
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36% 5.5 84%
In South America, over half of all children are born to unmarried mothers — Colombia had the highest rate at 84%. Nonmarital childbearing is also common in Oceania and North America with an average of 40% of children born outside of marriage. In much of Europe, between one-third and half of children are born outside of marriage, and in France and Sweden, more than half of children are.
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Only 31% of adults in Russia are completely or very satisfied with their family life, compared with 78% in Argentina. Less than one-third of adults across Asia report being satisfied with their family lives. Single parenthood is least accepted in China, where less than one-quarter of adults believe that one parent can bring up a child as well as two. Over half of children in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Colombia, Nicaragua and Turkey live with adults who are not their parents.
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CHILDREN BELONG IN FAMILIES
PARAGUAY’S FRESH APPROACH
TO FOSTER CARE Roberto and Veronica with Jeremiah (4)
“Jeremiah has been a joy to us in every way. It’s really been one of the greatest blessings in our lives.” As we talk in her backyard, Veronica tells me with great conviction about her role as a foster mother. She and her husband Roberto live in Asunción, Paraguay’s capital. For the past four years, they have fostered Jeremiah: a livewire lad who loves outdoor activity (as I discover when I almost collide with his bike and avoid him spraying me with water!) Jeremiah’s start in life wasn’t easy. Soon after he was born, his mother was unable to care for him because she was in prison. The authorities became aware and got in touch with Veronica and Roberto, who had two older sons of their own, and had been on the waiting list to receive a foster child.
Momentum is gathering in Paraguay to ensure children who are separated from their families are fostered in loving homes, rather than living in institutions. And, as Andrew Dubock discovered, Viva’s partner network, Red Viva Paraguay, is at the heart of this inspirational alternative care movement.
A variety of social issues, rooted in poverty, force many parents to abandon their children. Lengthy judicial processes mean it can take years for children to be matched to appropriate foster carers – but, even then, there are not enough available, trained families in the system to receive these children. Institutional care therefore becomes the default choice. For almost six years, the National Secretariat for Children and Adolescents (SNNA) in Paraguay has been actively increasing the number of children moving from institutions into families, with crucial support from civil society and community organizations – including our partner network Red Viva Paraguay.
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and holding training workshops. Some couples such as Veronica and Roberto took the next step, and were approved by SNNA to become foster parents. Now the network has momentum to do more thanks to a new national Christian movement called Paraguay Protects Families (PPF), which is creating a platform to make the protection of children in families possible through awareness-raising in churches. Red Viva Paraguay has selected the city of Ñemby, a short journey from the capital, as the place to begin a new foster care program next year. Network coordinator Isaac Saldívar, tells me: “We can be more efficient by doing this locally – it will be run by a professional team, with the support of volunteer professionals and with the network already established. A local system is well-structured where everyone knows their role, meaning we can become more efficient and effective in ensuring the protection of children.” “What we as a network especially bring is a focus on the local community but with the possibility of impacting the national situation.
Our local churches can both identify families that are interested in becoming foster carers and help channel them into that program, and also work in communities to identify children that are likely to need alternative care placements. Isaac adds, “Collaboration with government is very important because it establishes what the procedure and best process needs to be and then we implement it to ensure best practice. Our participation in PPF is crucial because it connects us with other faith-based organizations who are like-minded, so that together we have a stronger voice to make a bigger impact.” With a grin, Isaac tells me he is a dreamer! “Next year, Red Viva Paraguay hopes to have the program working in Ñemby and in at least two cities within two years. I truly believe this model will be a paradigm shift for our approach to foster care. We ask for prayer that we can be a visible force and for wisdom to make a real impact for children’s protection and development.” Andrew Dubock is Viva’s Communications Manager
The network has been raising awareness of alternative care for children in churches,
“In Paraguay, there are many children who are suffering and that don’t have a family. No child should be cared for in an institution or be alone or unprotected in the streets. Children were created to be in families.” Patricia, a foster mother 4
Community leaders in Ñemby discuss plans for future work
Winter 2017
Help us to provide children in Paraguay with a safe home by making a gift towards this Christmas’ Match Appeal, ‘Family First’. Go to viva.org/christmasappeal for videos, more articles and ways to give. Viva Life
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CHILDREN BELONG IN FAMILIES Vulnerable children have found their way into the city and are living on the streets or have been taken into care. In Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, it is estimated that more than 6,000 children live in unregistered institutions. These homes are often called orphanages, but it is likely that 75 per cent of these children have a living relative. Although these institutions have been started through a genuine desire to assist displaced children, carers are mostly untrained and ill-equipped for the task and, for fear of government interference, institutions remain unregistered.
The network is reuniting displaced children with their families and communities
A FRESH
START AFTER
FIGHTING Following economic struggle and violent conflict, families in Myanmar are strained to breaking point. Justine Demmer visited the country to see how our new partner network cares for children and reunites families.
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To a visitor like me, Myanmar has an untouched feel to it; there are no indications of international trends found in other Asian countries. As a newly ‘opened’ nation, tourism remains largely locally focused rather than foreign. For the last few years, the country has been transitioning from military rule to a system of democracy after decades of isolation and internal fighting. Due to politics and fighting, two-thirds of births have not officially been reported and consequently many children do not officially exist in the eyes of society. Even before the current Rohingya refugee crisis more than half a million people had fled their homes; over a third of these are children. Witnesses to atrocity and sometimes victims of violence themselves, these children lead intensely stressful lives, deprived of shelter, protection, access to education and the most basic social services. Many of these children are orphans but more have been separated from their families and communities through outbreaks of violence, the burning of their villages, landslides or being sent away to safety.
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I’m here in Myanmar to meet with the team at the Children’s Development Family Network, which comprises 20 Christian NGOs and children’s projects in Yangon. Its primary aim is to care for displaced children while working to reunite them with their families and communities. Over the last two years, the network has offered information sessions and substantial training to displaced families and their children to assist them in restarting their lives. Viva connected with the network as a way to bring children and families together again. I very much enjoyed our latest training day that gathered leaders from 14 orphanages together to discuss the value of family, working together and assessing issues facing children. It was not surprising to hear that they rated family breakdown as the single biggest crisis affecting children in Myanmar. Under such dire conflict situations, it is the family that suffers most: homes are destroyed, breadwinners killed and children traumatized and unsettled. Families often break apart as a means of survival, or the result of the emotional strain. Since there are many distinct ethnic communities in Myanmar, original families need to be located so that these children can be reintegrated within their own ethnic community. Various engagements Viva Life
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Leaders of orphanages talk about the way forward
allow the child and the family to become reacquainted. They then establish strong, trusting relationships and connections between the village leaders, village community, parents and children. Young people are empowered to serve their own community in some way, which requires skills training in areas such as farming, and mentorship. It is key to develop the children to become confident and capable, which reduces their vulnerability from falling victim again to exploitation. The situation of children living in refugee camps has also motivated the network to begin response activities with them, and we hope they too can be reunited with family and helped to cope with trauma no child should have to endure. To address a lack of basic childcare and organizational skills, the network will implement Viva’s Quality Improvement System (QIS) program. This will increase members’ capability in the areas of finance, governance, program design, people care, child protection and child wellbeing. During the two-year QIS course, participants will identify two areas for improvement in each category and implement changes. I’ve seen the network’s passion, drive and Godly vision and the team here are excited by the prospect of greater working together. Please pray for the Children’s Development Family Network’s valuable Kingdom ministry. Justine Demmer is Viva’s Network Consultant for Asia Winter 2017
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Viva Annual Christmas Match 2017
This Christmas, will you help us provide loving homes for abandoned children and strengthen struggling families? Your gift today could help Viva and its partner networks to: • Find foster families for vulnerable children in Paraguay • Equip children in care homes with life skills in Honduras • Resettle children from institutions into families in Uganda Read stories. Watch videos. Give online or by check and your gift will be doubled by a group of supporters.
www.viva.org/christmasappeal
Viva, 601 Union Street, Suite 3010, Seattle, WA 98101, USA t: 206-382-0790
FACEBOOK.COM/VIVATOGETHERFORCHILDREN Mixed Sources Product group from well-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fibre. www.fsc.org Cert No. SA-COC-09174 Front cover (inset): KXStudio
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NA@VIVA.ORG
VIVA.ORG
Viva is an operating name of Viva North America. Viva North America is a registered 501(c)3 organization, registered under employer identification number 84-1541857. Any children referred to have had their names and photos changed in accordance with our Child Protection Policy.
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