Introduction
This publication is presented in three parts. Part 1 discusses how seeing Haitian children as part of a complex and beautiful social system can inform best practices in child care reform. Part 2 highlights eight organizations working towards family-based care and the preservation of families and communities. Part 3 provides inspiration for collective action and transformation.
Child development happens within a social and ecological system. In the first section, a Whole Haiti, we consider child protection from the individual (child), family, community, Haitian, and global levels and begin to discuss the complex interplay between these factors. To see Haiti as a whole, we must consider each level and the importance of community and connection as the key factors in childhood development. Many organizations are providing services that support the whole child within this connected community context.
Organizations in Haiti working to keep families together are strengthening livelihoods and food security; providing access to education; working to get children back into a safe home; training parents to be strong leaders; ensuring maternal and child health; and creating a new story around child well-being and family-care in communities. Other organizations are working to heal the damage that has been done: reunite children with their families, create change in the child-protection and criminal-justice system, and support caregivers in being healthy and productive adults.
People, organizations, and donors do—and can continue to—work together with the government of Haiti to provide the very best care for children. Together we can lift up and support family-based care and work towards preventing family separation.
