Orphans - Casa Viva

The Challenge: 40 million children in Latin America are orphans or are children in need of residential care. The traditional approach to this has been expensive and generally ineffective children's homes. Even with the best intentions children grow up institutionalized.

The Big Idea: Research began in 2003 pointed to the need to use churches as a spring board for fostering. One church in which one family looks after one child; that eliminates the need for constant staffing of expensive facilities and provides the child a better psycho-social environment in which to grow up.

The Big Solution: Casa Viva was established in 2005 in Costa Rica to proto-type this approach and found within a short time 14 churches in which 30 families tested the idea. 4 Casa Viva staff provided the recruitment of parents, screening, training and support needed as well as the legal arrangements with local authorities.

Result: The results to date have been so successful that Nobel Peace Price winner and current President of Costa Rica came to open the Casa Viva Centre and has signed up the initiative for government funding. The initiative is now being exported across Latin America.

 

Will you join us ?

 

Viva International Website

© Viva Network 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Viva is an operating name of Viva Network.
Viva Network. Company limited by guarantee. Registration No. 3162776.
Registered in the United Kingdom at Unit 8, The Gallery, 54 Marston Street, Oxford OX4 1LF.