Education Cambodia Project #36612

Helping Children Grow Up In Loving Families

by Children In Families Organization

Helping Children Grow Up In Loving Families

Project Report | Jul 28, 2026
Building Future Change Makers

By Lisa Yunker and Dara Sam | Disability Tech Advisor and Communications Officer

Good Child, Good Student, Good Citizen event

Thank you so very much for your support of our Helping Children Grow Up in Loving Families project! When you give to support Children In Families you are doing more than making it possible for individual children to receive the love and care of a family, you are helping to strengthen whole communities. We at Children In Families believe that each child is precious. So, we do provide individualized care targeting each child and family's needs. But, we also work strategically to maximize our impact by building the capacity of other key community members wherever we can.

Often this involves building into government systems and stakeholders from the national to the local level. But we believe in the power of everyday people to make a difference in their communities. The children and families that we serve are not just "beneficiaries," they are future change makers. Children are the future of a community. Just having children cared for in families rather than institutional settings helps to preserve this precious community resource. But we don't stop there. CIF staff are intentionally developing this powerful force through fun, interactive training such as our recent "Good Child, Good Student, and Good Citizen" training event.

The objectives of this event were:

Help children understand their roles in the family (Good Child)
Promote commitment to learning and moral values in school (Good Student)
Instill a spirit of community love and responsibility (Good Citizen)

The fun activities, educational games, and experience-sharing made it easy for the children to understand and apply to their daily lives. We at CIF hope that creating this positive peer environment through activities like these will help to instill core values and essential foundations for these children's futures which will have a long-lasting positive impact on their communities.

Another recent activity, the "Preparing Life’s Plan" session, targeted teenagers in CIF's family-based care program. The purpose was to promote their future independence and success by building confidence, fostering a growth mindset, and developing essential life skills. The participants enjoyed meeting new friends, sharing laughs, and discovering their value in the community and society. They shared their future dreams and discussed how to make them a reality. The youth participants expressed eagerness to apply what they learned and to join future sessions!

Of course children need the support of their families as they grow to become the future change makers of Cambodia. CIF also targeted parents and foster parents to encourage and support them in their vital role. CIF staff conducted a reflection meeting with to discuss children's education progress and methods for supporting them at home. Parents learned from each other, exchanging ideas on how to create a better home learning environment.

Some key points included:

Establishing specific times for children to do their homework.
Providing encouragement and praise for a child's effort.
Arranging a home environment conducive to reading and learning.
Fostering closer collaboration between home and school.

One of the participating parents shared, "A child's education success starts with the attention and love of their family." We at CIF believe that family support and encouragement is one of the strongest foundations for a child's future.

Thank you for supporting the empowerment of these children and families! We could not do it without people like you who value the impact of helping children grow up in the love and care of healthy families and communities. Would you consider helping us out in another way? Can you think of others who might be interested in getting to know more about our work? With the steep decline in grant funding available, we have a critical need to build our network of compassionate partners. It goes back to the power of everyday people.

Here are some ways you can help:

Forward this email to friends and family and let them know why you have chosen to support CIF.
Personally invite friends to check out our website, GlobalGiving page, and/or Facebook page.
Host a fundraiser on the GlobalGiving website. Feel free to reach out to us for more details on how to do that.
If you'd like to coordinate with us on a virtual event to personally introduce your friends/family to the work of CIF we would be delighted!

Thanks again!

Lisa, Dara, and the CIF team

Preparing Life's Plan event

Parent & Caregiver Training

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