By Connie Duran Robertson | Board
As Mercedes tells us now “I was born in a very poor home, we suffered hunger and violence. My mother is schizophrenic and was sometimes violent; my father had no money for her medical treatment. I was taken apart legally from my home and taken to foster home care at 3 as they told me my life was in danger. This orphanage / foster home took good care of me but nobody adopted me so I was taken to Puerta Abierta´s foster home at age 8.“
56.7 % of Children who have suffered violence will repeat the violence cycle if not properly treated. In Puerta Abierta we work with a loving family model that takes care of emotional, physical, academic spiritual and social needs of our girls. This model encourages them to become independent, responsible and self-sufficient so they can build a nonviolent family.
But Mercedes was not able to handle the violence and abandonment she had suffered and kept telling us “ It is unfair, my mother never hurt me, they (DIF: Legal Government area that protects children) are telling lies “. Neither her father nor mother fought to get her back, at that time they just were not present.
Puerta Abierta always believed in her, we got her to learning therapies, tutoring and emotional support, we kept supporting all her needs, at some points we thought she wouldn’t finish elementary school as she did no progress. She was always frustrated and had disruptive conducts and bad temper. Lucy, the “mother-caregiver“ kept supporting her against all odds, specially in her emotional needs, we all kept loving her and showing her how much we cared.
At age 15 she kept dreaming of a family she wanted, not the one she had, at this point Puerta Abierta´s team and all the specialists around Mercedes decided we had to confront her with reality. Assessed by a therapist Mercedes had one contact with her father in a very contained environment. After that meeting WHAT SEEMED IMPOSIBLE BECAME A REALITY, Mercedes got a straight A in math in her 2nd grade of secondary school. Since then Mercedes shows a personal motor that keeps her pursuing her dream. As she says “ I want to become a university graduate so I take care of medical treatment for my parents“ Mercedes has one more year to go before heading to University.
With all the support from generous donors and Puerta Abierta, Mercedes can now tell a successful story, we are very proud of Mercedes and grateful for your suport, as without you it wouldn’t be possible!
Links:
By Simona Fontana | Board Member
By Simona Fontana | Emotional Support
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
