Planning for re-unification with family can certainly be complicated and takes much time and fuel.
What makes it complicated:
already crowded families, polygamy, poverty ++, sickness of key relatives, no/little support in the community as in a functional social welfare system, or other helpful resources. We find that the more rural the situation is and the less education the family has the less willing the family is to take back the child.
So, what do we do? We visit with family in the village to get to know them, to teach them about how important family and culture is to child development. We attempt to assess their strengths, their assets, their needs, the community resources, so that when baby returns they have a higher possibility of survival.
What do family want, why would they want to leave a child any longer in an orphan home - even an orphan home where they almost receive 1:1 care? Some are looking for longer term care - so that the child can get education, up to grade 12 and beyond. And there are other things that I'll let you discover that they're looking for. Look up Firelight's foundation: "From faith to action" or Better Care Networks: "Families not orphanages".
Some of what families fear is that they'll not be able to care for "one more child".
We attempt to connect village church leaders with families as there are churches in EVERY community, while ngo's and other helpful government systems are sparce and somewhat disconnected. Linkages between organizations is typically not a strong trait in developing nations.
Today, we'll visit Mapenzi at her village home and also will visit recently discharged Chipo and Chabota as well as see another orphan home in the same area.
Thanks for all your support. Our work is with families, churches, communities....so that baby can get the maximum opportunity for overall healthy development despite all the challenges that this developing nation faces.
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