Promoting Transition to Home Orphan-Care!

Family preservation initiatives are not something that can be determined by a ‘one-size fits all’ model - every country, village, and individual family’s situation is circumstantial and unique. At ONETrack International (OTI), an important part of our strategy is learning from and working with the communities of our local partners.

The gap that ONETrack addresses is to relieve orphanages of the children who do not belong in them, while simultaneously reuniting the family by placing children in the households of surviving family members and ensuring they receive the proper education and healthcare. OTI assumes the role of foster care in regions that do not have the systems in place to care for all of the parentless children. In other regions where reintegration is difficult, we commit to group families with multiple orphans, and we will begin experimenting with orphan-prevention in the coming years so the children at-risk of being removed from family members for economic reasons can be spared institutional life.

This all involves an intimate relationship and mutual trust with the communities we work for and serve.

So, how do we choose our local partners?

The ONETrack Operations Team is responsible for identifying local partners who are qualified to assume the role of an OTI field team and administer Transition to Home activities. They may identify these partners through existing relationships, by leveraging contacts they have in-country, through open-source research that is followed by further verification and vetting processes (partner analysis, operational overview, etc.), or any other means that introduces OTI to the appropriate individuals and organizations to collaborate with. These partners are expected to have a profound understanding of the region, village and orphans/vulnerable children (OVC) situations and processes in their country and be able to assist in the selection process of potential beneficiaries and host families. OTI policy is to work with local partners or local-led initiatives and never bring in outside staff to act as our field team leaders. 

Want to learn more? Visit our Project Summary page:

https://onetrackinternational.org/projectsummary/

Links:

• Learn More at the Project Summary Page
• Our Website
• Ways to Give

We are excited to announce that we have started working with at risk children in Kosovo.

ONETrack has partnered with Shpresa dhe Shtëpitë e Fëmijëve (Hope and Homes for Children) to support children without parental care or who are the victims of domestic violence, abuse, or human trafficking.

Although the situation has changed significantly and there are laws in place to address their protection, many children in Kosovo still do not enjoy their basic rights. Even now, they are living in extreme poverty, not able to attend school, and left without parental care. Additionally, in recent years, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of children involved in street begging, used as child labor, and in the emergence of human trafficking cases concerning under-aged victims.

In response, The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare in Kosovo, as a mandated body for provision of protection and services for children in need, in the absence of public shelters, has continuously contacted the Hope and Homes for Children, a local Kosovar NGO, to provide community-based services for vulnerable children during their childhoods.

And now, ONETrack International is helping to support the Hope and Homes for Children program as well. Our focus is on their reintegration system, ensuring the children receive an education in a safe environment. Together, we emphasize a child focused approach that is designed to meet each child’s individual needs.

To learn more about our work in Kosovo, check out the full blog here: http://onetrackinternational.org/kosovo/

Links:

• Learn More About Our Kosovo Project
• Our Website
• Ways to Give