Daniëlle
Children's Fund |
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Daniëlle
Children’s Fund is a non-profit charity organisation, based in The Netherlands. DCF’s mission is to accompany children in need and their families in Ecuador and Nepal, re-establishing and maintaining the link between them. While doing that, DCF focuses mainly on educational, medical, social and psychological services. As DCF members, we strongly feel the need to share with the children and families what God is giving to us. In both countries, we run Child ‘N Family centers.
Our Child ‘N Family center (CNF) in Ecuador, is located in Ambato. It offers a temporary home to children in need, with the aim to reunite them with their families. Many kids in Ambato live in the streets for economic reasons, even though they do have parents or other family members who could take care of them. It is our strong belief that, if possible, a child should always live with its own next of kin!
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When a child enters our center, we provide all basic needs. Not only shelter, food and education, but especially love and care! At the same time we will prepare the child to go to his or her real home. During this process, our technical team of social worker, psychologists and family therapists, will be working with the child and also with the family. Reuniting a child and family is a long-term process, and does not stop the moment the child is back home. That is why we always continue to accompany the child and family in their home environment until they are able to function independently.
DCF is always looking for people and companies who would like to support our projects in Ecuador and Nepal. In The Netherlands DCF works only through volunteers. Therefore there are no overhead costs. Every donation goes straight to the children and families who participate in our projects.
"After
travelling in Africa, Russia and Romania, and seeing
these children first hand, I simply could not forget
them. I decided to leave my job in the city of London
and went to work in a children hospital in Nepal. Personally
I believe it is a privilege to share with other people
what God has given to us and I feel very gifted."
Helma
van der Hoeven
President DCF Ecuador |
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The
Street Children in Ecuador
As
Ecuadorians we are grateful for being
fortunate enough to be able to have access
to education, we feel strongly a social
responsibility to help the most vulnerable
members of our society: the street children.
According to the
Latin American Press, 10.000 children
work and live in the streets of the cities
of Ecuador. They have made the streets
their own home. Outside a modest restaurant
at night in Quito, a little ten year old
boy named Robert tearfully recounts: "I
work to make my living, so that I can
buy food and help my grandmother."
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Many
children like Robert - who sell newspapers and sweets,
or clean windshields - inhale glue to escape from
consciousness and the painful reality of hunger.
These cases are part of the sad urban reality
of the major cities of our country. |
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Andeanface is directly
linked with projects to help these kids, as
one of its directors Helma van der Hoeven -
is the founder of the Daniëlle Children’s
Fund ( ),
a charity organisation from The Netherlands
which helps children in need.
"There are many of these children... no house,
no food, no love. For most of the tourists they
are part of the city landscape. It’s something
people come to expect in third world countries.
No real surprise. Sad. To give them a dollar is
often a reason to forget them a few minutes later.
Many do not realise that these children are real.
Little human beings with hunger for food, for
warmth and for love. Unfortunately, they do not
disappear when the tourist turns the corner of
the street."
Helma van der Hoeven
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Child 'N Family center
Daniëlle Children’s Fund, with the support of Andeanface and other sponsors, created a Child 'N Family center in Ambato and is still controlling and supervising the local people who are running it.
The center has the following two programs:
Temporary Institutional Custody: Admission of children only happens via Children Courts or via the Children’s Police. Children admitted are street kids and children victim of maltreatment & abuse, who need a temporary home due to the necessity of immediate protection. The Child ‘N Family center accompanies them with the goal to re-establish the link between the child and its family enabling the families to come up with their own solutions to resolve their problems.
Systemic Family Services: Our local technical ambulatory team (social worker, psychologists and family therapists) works a lot within the family's houses instead of always within the institution. The focus of the Child ‘N Family center is on systematic family therapy. Besides this, we offer social, medical and educational services to the children and their families until they can function independently.
Volunteering
The voluntary work program at the Child ‘N Family center in Ambato consists of assisting the child caretakers in the daily care of the children, teaching English and playing with the kids; but it also includes practical labour, like constructing works, painting buildings and maintaining the garden. In other words… there is a lot to do!
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