International Day of Families - Celebrating Foster Families
It’s International Day of Families! On the 15th of May, we celebrate our loved ones, the people we have grown up with, who inspire us each day, whether blood-related or the friends we find along the way. In particular, we want to celebrate foster families and the kindness of opening a home for a child in need of love and support.
Imagine, for a moment, being without a family. Lost, afraid, and alone.
*Ronnie was referred to the Ewafe Home in May 2020. He had been found on his own in a small room with no food by *Aidah, the women's counsellor of the local village. It transpired that following the passing of Ronnie's parents he was sadly abandoned by his other relatives. During his stay at Ewafe, Ronnie was cared for, provided counselling and sponsored to go to school, all whilst our social workers attempted to trace safe family members for Ronnie to stay with.
We always aim to reunite lost and abandoned children at our Ewafe Home with relatives. But, sometimes this is not possible. So, last year, we launched our Foster Care Programme to build new families and ensure more children have the opportunity to grow up in a loving home. For Ronnie, the kindness of strangers would once again triumph in finding him a family.
After much searching it became apparent that reintegration with family was not going to be possible for Ronnie and so we then began the process of foster care. Amazingly, after hearing that Ronnie required a foster home Aidah got back in touch and explained that she was a trained foster carer and would love to welcome Ronnie into her family.
Following conversations between Ronnie, Aidah, our social workers and the probation officer, Ronnie was successfully placed with Aidah and is now living happily with the family.
Ronnie & Aidah, from strangers to family.
4 children have now been placed in foster families and over 10 families have been trained and assessed ready to welcome a child into their home. We’re also continuing to reunite children with their families with 12 families traced and 4 children reintegrated in 2023 already.
Read more about our Ewafe Home and how we reunite and build families through the Ewafe Project here. If you would like to support more children like Ronnie, please make a donation to celebrate International Day of Families.