There are no public services for people with developmental disabilities in the Dominican Republic other than institutional orphanages. People with developmental disabilities are generally marginalized and not considered capable of participating in and contributing to their community
In December 2010 Hogares Luteranos el Buen Pastor (HLBP) received six orphaned children with developmental disabilities from the government institution to demonstrate how the children’s lives can be changed with love and integral care. Currently, six children live in the group home: Randy, Moises, Ramona, Estefani, Junior, and Francis. To learn more about the children, visit: www.specialchildreninc.com
Our group home:
• Is established alongside a local Lutheran congregation to provide spiritual care and integration into the Body of Christ, the church family. The children attend weekly Sunday School and Worship services.
• Provides a family setting where children and youth with developmental disabilities receive security, stability, and unconditional love. The children have learned how to receive love and give love.
• Offers excellence in physical care and individualized attention, giving the children opportunities to be included in the community and society. The children attend school, help with the grocery shopping, play sports and have friends with whom they can share.
• Has permitted the children’s lived to be changed by God’s love and care that has been shown to them through their church family, their group home family, and their community. Citizens of the community gave hundreds of hours to remodel the home, left donations of food and clothes, and offered to help in many other ways. The community, government and HLBP has provided a valuable template that will shape future group home arrangements around the Dominican Republic. HLBP is directed by Dr. Marisol Martinez and staffed by trained “aunts and uncles,” who are members of the local Lutheran congregation. The work of HLBP is also assisted by LCMS missionary, Danelle Putnam. Hogares Luteranos el Buen Pastor is a ministry of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Dominican Republic. The organization needs to raise 100 percent of the funds to pay for daily operations and the group home. Currently, DRLM is seeking avenues to secure the financial future of HLBP and potentially open more group homes. Some measures being undertaken are:
• Starting a sponsorship program
• Soliciting donations from local companies
• Growing food
• Opening an Internet café
If you would like to sponsor a child please visit:
www.specialchildreninc.com
