Provide Foster Families in Brazil

Dear Donor
We would like to share news about the project that has contributed to the full development of babies and young children who need to be separated from their biological families due to a court decision. And all this has been possible because we have counted on your support over the years.
Our project offers family foster care to children between the ages of 0 and 6, who have had their rights violated in some way. In seven years of existence, our project has already sheltered 99 children. The context of foster care is temporary and we seek to minimize the impacts that institutionalization can cause in the lives of such young children. When they are in foster families, their development is greater and the family environment, allied to the care of adults who are prepared to receive them, makes all the difference in this very difficult moment of their lives.
Despite all the difficulties, we continue strengthening ourselves and acting in our mission to protect and ensure the rights of children in such a challenging phase of their lives. This work is possible thanks to the help of people like you, who care and contribute to the search for a better life for our children.

Inspiring Stories
When her three children were taken in, Sheila was in her fourth pregnancy and had been using crack for over 20 years. She said she started smoking as a teenager, together with her mother, in downtown São Paulo.
She showed a great desire to take care of her children and get off the streets, but in the beginning of the support program she was resistant to the team's interventions, she couldn't organize herself to arrive on time for the visits, and didn't accept the sheltering measure.
One day she commented that she loved to paint napkins, so the following week one of the staff started painting a napkin next to her. Sheila soon became interested and started to come to the service twice a week to teach the social worker how to do the napkin painting. Little by little she opened up and told us her story.
Some time later she lost her partner, her main support network, who was run over by a bus, and she became very fragile, started to abuse psychoactive substances again, and stopped attending the service.
With the help of the street outreach team, the technicians managed to find her and brought to her a notebook that told her story: "Once upon a time there was a beautiful little girl with curly hair who was born in São Paulo. Her mother said that the baby was born standing up, because she was the daughter of the world. Her dream was to be a delegate and a ballerina, she loved to dance and sing. When she was five years old, her mother lost her job and ended up living on the street...." At the end of the story Sheila was thrilled. After that, she started visiting her children again, began treatment for drug use, started working, and was able to rent a house. Today, Sheila lives with her four children in the East Zone of São Paulo, went back to school to become a delegate, and says she still has her notebook with her story.
Sheila's story was transformed thanks to the caring eye of people who cared about her. The work of these people is possible thanks to your contribution! We can't change the world, but we can certainly contribute to change the story of more people like Sheila!
We are grateful to count on you!

Kind wishes,

Instituto Fazendo História team