Helping Children Worldwide

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Helping Children Worldwide Helping children worldwide by strengthening & empowering their family & community. Come join us.

A global mission anchored to be financially healthy​, provide leadership, link resources to need, focus on family & community, equip & empower local ownership of solutions to poverty. Helping Children Worldwide supports child welfare reforms that favor strengthening and empowering families and works in collaboration with the Child Reintegration Centre in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Helping Children Worldwide supports global health service solutions that favor local ownership, and works in collaboration with Mercy Hospital in Sierra Leone. We work with program partners and mission-focused volunteers to prepare capacity-building and collaborative teams and deploy them overseas. We bring capable partners together to work virtually in collaborative efforts, with those interested in traveling in short-term and long-term mission trips to work hand-in-hand with our partners on the ground in Africa. We recruit family empowerment advocates to support the work of equipping and empowering local ownership of solutions that end child poverty and generational poverty and support child and family dignity. We connect like-minded individuals to tackle systemic concerns and root problems, not symptoms.

10/13/2026

Care reform is not about closing doors. It’s about opening homes. 🔑🏠

For too long, institutional care was the default response for vulnerable children. But today, we know better: children grow best in families.

The question is no longer “How do we care for children?”
The question is “How do we keep children in families?” 💭

When a child grows up wrapped in the love of a family, they don't just survive—they become who they were always meant to be.

🎁 Partner with us today. Your gift today directly empowers parents, strengthens communities, and keeps families whole.

👉 Click the link in to donate and support our mission at Helping Children Worldwide:
https://donate.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/checkout/3354

What does effective kinship care policy actually look like in practice? Family for Every Child survey of kinship care...
10/11/2026

What does effective kinship care policy actually look like in practice?

Family for Every Child survey of kinship care policies across 20 countries highlights positive examples of progress working on the ground:

🌍 Rwanda: Formally recognises kinship care in national law, explicitly including customary and traditional family arrangements.
🇨🇴 Colombia: Prioritises kinship care in law and policy as the preferred placement option ahead of other alternative care forms.
🇿🇦 South Africa: Ensures universal services (healthcare, education, school nutrition, social services, birth registration) are accessible regardless of whether care is formal or informal. Plus, digital data systems capture kinship care via household-head and primary-caregiver fields.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Places local authorities under a statutory duty to consider kinship ("connected persons") placements before unrelated foster care when children cannot remain with parents.

The Bottom Line: Kinship care can prevent families from breaking down. When policies value, recognize, and support family caregivers, children stay connected to their roots, community, and identity.

💬 Which of these policy approaches would make the biggest impact in your country? Drop your thoughts below!

🔗 familyforeverychild.org/global-kinship-care-week

10/10/2026

What moves us to do mission work? It’s the drive to walk alongside global partners and create lasting, sustainable change so every child can thrive in a safe, loving family.

Watch as volunteer Licensed Clinical Social Worker Reynada Walls shares why she brings her expertise to Helping Children Worldwide. Reynada works directly with our supported Sierra Leonean Case Management teams (Child Reintegration Centre and Child and Family Permanency Services) and Master of Social Work interns to build capacity and establish best practices in child protection.

🔗 Learn more about our mission and how you can get involved: www.hcw.ngo

Let's recognize the relatives and trusted caregivers who help children stay connected. ♥️👨‍👨‍👦‍👦A grandmother makes room...
10/09/2026

Let's recognize the relatives and trusted caregivers who help children stay connected. ♥️👨‍👨‍👦‍👦

A grandmother makes room for another child at her already crowded table. An aunt takes on school expenses she had not planned for. An uncle becomes the steady adult a child needs after a family crisis.

All over the world, relatives and trusted family friends step forward when parents cannot care for their children. Their care can preserve relationships, identity, and belonging during some of the most difficult moments in a child’s life. Rather than placing a child in an institution like an orphanage, alternative family-based options, including kinship care, can ensure a child retains connections with family and community.

Global Kinship Care Week, October 5–11, 2026, invites us to recognize these families and help create the conditions in which they can thrive. Led by Family for Every Child, this year’s campaign highlights the policies and practices needed to better support kinship care.

🔎👉 Read our latest blog: https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/latestnews

Findings from the Family for Every Child 2026 Kinship Care Policy Mapping show a critical gap between policy and practi...
10/08/2026

Findings from the Family for Every Child 2026 Kinship Care Policy Mapping show a critical gap between policy and practice:

📊 The Key Insights:
In Principle vs. In Practice: 81% of countries have a kin-first policy in principle, but informal kinship carers receive support in just 28% of countries—compared to 60% for biological parents and 56% for foster parents.

Legal Obstacles: 95% of countries require formal legal status for carers to have decision-making authority.

Data Invisibility: Only 29% of countries maintain data that distinguishes formal from informal carers, making millions of family caregivers invisible to state support systems.

To create conditions where children and families thrive, policy systems must change. Swipe through the carousel to explore the key statistics and recommendations from the mapping!

💬 What policy changes would make the biggest difference for kinship families in your country? Let’s discuss this!

10/08/2026

"Distant water does not put out a nearby fire." True solutions come from the people closest to the challenge.

Worldwide, 900 million children face multidimensional poverty. At Helping Children Worldwide, we’ve shifted our model from operating isolated orphanages to empowering local leaders who are transforming child welfare from the inside out.

Our focus today:
🔹 Family Preservation: Helping children return to or stay with safe, supportive families.
🔹 Locally Led Leadership: Investing in local professionals, social workers, and doctors driving national reforms.
🔹 Systemic Impact: Moving beyond symptoms to address the root causes of poverty and institutionalization.

Our core mission remains unchanged: to help children survive, thrive, and grow up in healthy families and supportive communities.

10/07/2026

"No child is ever too lost or too broken to find her way back to love and stability." — Reverend Olivia Fonney

When six-year-old Princess was rescued from abuse in Sierra Leone, she didn't need an institutional dorm. She needed a home.

Recognizing this, Reverend Olivia, took Princess into her own personal quarters, later placing her with a nurturing foster nurse. That therapeutic foundation gave Princess the room to heal, and ultimately allowed her to safely reunify with her birth parents.

Today, Princess is thriving, reading, and dreaming of becoming a teacher.

Her story is a living example of what Kinship Care Week is all about: recognizing that children belong in family environments, not institutional care systems.

When we shift our global focus from reactive state intervention to proactive, trauma-informed family support, we give every child the chance to stay connected to their roots, culture, and community.

Explore Princess's Journey:
🎧 Listen full story on our Optimistic Voices: A Child’s View to hear Reverend Olivia break down Princess's path from trauma to healing, and learn how trauma-informed community support can change a child's life trajectory.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1997407/episodes/17236646

What role can our communities play in empowering families and protecting vulnerable children before a crisis occurs?

Let’s start the conversation in the comments, share to amplify this message during , and hit save to revisit this reminder.

(Note: A stock photo is used to safeguard Princess’s privacy and identity.)

10/06/2026

The goal isn't to raise children in institutions. The goal is to see children grow up in families. 💬

Physical needs like food, shelter, and schooling are critical—but they aren't enough on their own. Institutional care can meet immediate physical requirements while still leaving a child starving for identity, connection, and true belonging.

When we realized the children in our care had families who simply lacked support, we knew we had to pivot. Today, we focus on restoring children to their loved ones and empowering parents.

💙Today you can start supporting family strengthening: https://donate.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/checkout/3354

Reform

This week is Global Kinship Care Week 2026! Across the globe, millions of children are raised by grandparents, aunts, ...
10/06/2026

This week is Global Kinship Care Week 2026!

Across the globe, millions of children are raised by grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, and trusted family friends when birth parents cannot care for them. Kinship care is the most common form of alternative care worldwide, offering vital stability, preserving cultural roots, and keeping family connections intact.

Yet, too often, these carers are left to navigate heavy financial, emotional, and practical burdens without adequate state support.

That is why we are taking action together:
🌍 Advocating for better recognition of kinship care
💡 Sharing real-life examples to improve kinship care practice, policies, and support systems globally.
🤝 Working together to deepen understanding and highlight why kinship care matters for every child.

Swipe through the carousel above to see what Global Kinship Care Week means and how we can better empower family networks.

Learn more and join the movement at Family for Every Child

💬 How can support systems in your community better value and assist kinship caregivers

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Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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