CANADEM Child Protection Expert Benoit Fournier was deployed to assist UNICEF's emergency response efforts in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck near the Capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, last January 2010. His secondment was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The below article was written by Benoit's colleague, Line Wolf Nielsen, from SOS Children's Villages International
Finding the family
7-year old Daniel* sits on a wooden chair in the shade of a large mango tree and quietly tries to answer the many questions that two adults in front of him keep asking. "What is the name of your mother? Do you live with her? Do you know where she is now? What about your father? Are any other people living with you?"
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| Co-workers from SOS Children's Villages and UNICEF are questioning a child about its family. Photo: Line Wolf Nielsen |
Not far from the mango tree, another session takes place with a 9-year old girl.
A long list of questions needs to be addressed and the SOS social workers dutifully note down everything the children say.
"When you talk with children it's important that they trust you. They have been left by adults before, and might not find it easy to trust you. You have to be present and know how to communicate both verbal and non-verbal. Remember, every little detail is crucial," the SOS social workers have been told by Benoit Fournier.
"More than 350 children have found their way to the safe haven of SOS Children's Villages in Santo and by registering all newcomers into a national database, we hope that it will be possible to further verify family background and trace relatives - and possibly mediate a family re-unification," explains Patricia Vargas Sagot.
Patricia Vargas, regional director of SOS Children's Villages in Central America and the Caribbean, came to Haiti shortly after the earthquake in order to support the setup of the emergency operations of SOS Children's Villages and has been involved in the network of national and international NGOs, who has agreed to join forces in order to strengthen the work of child and family re-unification in Haiti.
"The first step is to put as much information as possible into a national database, which is operated by UNICEF," Patricia explains. "Secondly you try to trace the family. Some child-centered organisations operate in rural areas of the country, others only in certain districts of the capital. We will ask those social workers present in the concerned area to look for clues and persons. If that is achieved we can then start a mediation process, when some family members are found."
"It really is all about helping each other and preventing permanent separation. One organisation can't do it alone. Child focused organisations are present in various areas and neighborhoods and therefore it makes sense to assist when tracing family. So when we are working on family mediation, and when we do follow up and support work we can draw on each other's proximity to the involved families," adds Marie De La Soudiere, another UNICEF child protection officer.
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| A long list of questions need to be addressed. Photo: Line Wolf Nielsen |
Patricia Vargas also informs that SOS Children's Villages currently hires more staff so that the office in Haiti has enough resources for the mediation process and for liaising with other organisations. All children in the SOS Children's Village will need to be registered in the database, except the 153 who already lived within an SOS family before the earthquake.
With the structures in place it is all about ensuring as much information as possible about each child. Name, age and any data on the place where the child used to live are crucial. The questionnaire also includes questions like: where is your school and who is your teacher?
The boy under the mango tree can easily respond. He is seven years old and also has a younger brother in the SOS Children's Village. But what do you do when a child is too young to speak? According to Patricia Vargas the real challenge is indeed the babies.
"Then we have to rely on information from contact persons and those who bring the child. They will also need a birth registration and that is done in collaboration with state authorities."
Often it is also useful to ask the child to make a drawing of the house and the surroundings. Then social workers might discover a nearby church, a park or other relevant landmarks, which could assist in tracing the child back to its family.
For Patricia Vargas it is crucial that SOS Children's Villages comes up with a sufficient strategy that can ensure that if a family is in fact traced, the relatives are indeed able to care for the child. "Normally you have time to verify the family history but in the early stages we did not have that time. We know a certain percentage of those children who have come to the village have some relatives - families who are unable to care for the children adequately. Now it's crucial to find out if the biological parents exist and if the parents are able to care. Poverty is a big issue in Haiti and we have to think about what is best for the child. That should be at the core of it all. The parents have to be willing to care for their children and we have to find ways to support them in their efforts," says Patricia.
With the structures in place it is all about ensuring as much information as possible about each child. Name, age and any data on the place where the child used to live are crucial. The questionnaire also includes questions like: where is your school and who is your teacher?
The boy under the mango tree can easily respond. He is seven years old and also has a younger brother in the SOS Children's Village. But what do you do when a child is too young to speak? According to Patricia Vargas the real challenge is indeed the babies.
"Then we have to rely on information from contact persons and those who bring the child. They will also need a birth registration and that is done in collaboration with state authorities."
Often it is also useful to ask the child to make a drawing of the house and the surroundings. Then social workers might discover a nearby church, a park or other relevant landmarks, which could assist in tracing the child back to its family.
For Patricia Vargas it is crucial that SOS Children's Villages comes up with a sufficient strategy that can ensure that if a family is in fact traced, the relatives are indeed able to care for the child. "Normally you have time to verify the family history but in the early stages we did not have that time. We know a certain percentage of those children who have come to the village have some relatives - families who are unable to care for the children adequately. Now it's crucial to find out if the biological parents exist and if the parents are able to care. Poverty is a big issue in Haiti and we have to think about what is best for the child. That should be at the core of it all. The parents have to be willing to care for their children and we have to find ways to support them in their efforts," says Patricia.
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| Photo: Line Wolf Nielsen |
"We are trying to find a good way of mediating the poverty issues and to ensure that families have the support they need to care for the children in the long-term. With the huge loss of housing and jobs and the existing poverty, that is at the moment a very challenging situation," she admits.
As of mid March more than 30 unaccompanied children, who were temporarily cared for at the SOS Children's Village in Santo, have been able to return to a family setting and more are planned for the future. All families have been provided with tents, sleeping bags and food assistance for either one or tree months, depending on their situation. All families will be continuously visited and monitored by SOS staff.
A team from the SOS Children's Village in Cap Haitien has also undergone training in family registration and begun work in the Northern part of the country.
*Name changed