It occurred to me in 2010 that surely I was not alone in my quest to find standards of care or policies and procedures for children’s homes in Honduras. It seemed logical at the time that I would find these things by going to the website of IHNFA, the former agency charged with oversight of children’s homes, and click on a few tabs/drop-downs to find the desired information. Sadly, nothing existed. Still doesn’t.
But, praise God this is about to change. I couldn’t have fathomed 5-years ago that I would one day have the privilege of working with an amazing group of people, who share the same passion and work ethic, to create these standards of care and a multitude of other documents and resources for children’s homes all over Honduras.
Many of you have probably noticed our status changes on social media. In case you haven’t heard, we are now independent missionaries serving in Honduras. We’re going to share more about the new ministry that we have founded very soon, I promise.
For right now, I want let you know about how God orchestrated our connection with a new organization called the Honduras Children’s Alliance. (Just to be clear – this is not the new ministry that we have founded – this is something in addition to what we’re going to be doing.)
Our daughter, Hannah, who used to live in Honduras, told us that we really should meet Tara Garcia, the founder of R.O.O.M. (Reach Out Orphan Ministries). We finally found time to meet Tara last October. Shortly after this we returned to the USA to begin our fall furlough. Tara reached out to us later and invited us to attend a meeting of people who share the same passion and work with Honduran children in various capacities. I didn’t hesitate; I booked my flight and headed back to Honduras in November for the sole purpose of attending this meeting. I think everyone present was equally surprised at the number of people in attendance at this history-making meeting.
It finally hit me while I was sitting on the front porch of the restaurant with all of these new friends that I clearly hadn’t been alone in my thoughts in 2010. For many years there have been people serving all over Honduras who thought that there should be standards of care, policies, procedures, forms, resources, networking opportunities, training, etc. Was the trip back to Honduras worth it? Absolutely.
God pulled everyone sitting at that table together at the perfect time. The President of Honduras closed IHNFA in December 2014 and established DINAF, the new child services division of the government. DINAF is operating with transparency and in the best interest of their children, but is lacking manpower and expertise, therefore creating a gap. The Alliance will stand in that gap!