Therapy Services for 80 Cambodian Families

During harvest time, Dara* and Kunthy* earn a living in nearby rice fields. However, when the harvest ends, work is more challenging to come by. The day I met her, Kunthy had finished cutting the grass at the local pagoda using a long knife. Stooped in the brilliant morning light, she painstakingly worked her way across the vast grounds; her daughter, Sokea*, laughed and chattered from the custom wheelchair the ABLE Projgram recently outfitted her for, placed in the shade of a tree nearby. Her mother talked with her as she worked.  

Years earlier, a much grimmer reality existed for mother and daughter. Children In Families (CIF) was alerted about a woman with a daughter with disabilities who were starving to death in a tiny rented room in the city. Taking pity on her, the landlords would give her portions of their dinner, but it was not sufficient for them. Kunthy was highly vulnerable. Married as a teenager, with no more than a few years of schooling, she had fled abuse but had few options to care for her daughter, born with cerebral palsy. Her son was safe with extended family in her village, but she could not return out of fear for her daughter’s well-being.Sokea was failing to develop and thrive.   

Her husband, Dara, from a similar background, was young, and the frustrations of poverty drove him to addiction. He loved his family but felt shame for not being able to provide well for them. This created a cycle he struggled to break.  

When CIF was alerted to the dire state of Kunthy and Sokea, the whole family was brought into a process of restoration. Given the support of their village community, extended family, and CIF’s social workers and ABLE Program, Dara found dignity and could walk out with consistently better life choices. When shame was replaced with hope, he found he had much less anger and began to learn better ways of communicating and caring for his family.  

Reunited, the couple began to learn about Sokea’s disabilities and how to care for her so she could grow and develop. Their nutrition also greatly improved with support from CIF. Then, their son moved back in with them. He and his sister bonded and loved each other immensely. Both parents actively participate in Sokea’s physiotherapy and care.  

Their home, a simple wooden structure on stilts, recently began to fall apart. Rather than fix the problem for the family, CIF staff members helped them look at their finances and find solutions, even on seasonal income. They found that by saving little by little for the house, they could repair it. First, they set aside enough money for new posts, then a roof, and eventually, each part of the structure was replaced and significantly better. Dara and Kunthy had done it on their own. They also learned that small steps can yield great results when they remain faithful to growth.  

As I watched CIF’s physiotherapist do exercises and stretches with Sokea, her grandmother passed by and stopped. Sitting nearby, the woman smiled and chatted with the little girl, who lit up in her presence. In the few hours at their home, I met many family members who lived nearby and were involved in their lives.  

When Kunthy and Sokea were at their most vulnerable, it would have been easier to separate them, put them in a safe house, or put the child into a facility for care. And both would have benefited to a degree, at least for a time. It would have been easy to judge Dara for his behavior and to want to keep his wife and children far from him. Still, we would have also taken away his God-given responsibility to become a good father and provider. Kunthy and Sokea would have remained vulnerable as a single parent household, separated from extended family. The most sustainable and holistic approaches often take time and involve buy-in from the community and family. It was not the easiest or most expedient way to care for this family. Still, years later, sitting in their village, watching all of the beautiful interactions, and seeing the bonds of this family, it was the right way because family is where children belong.  

* Names changed for purpose of confidentiality

Our ABLE Program team continues to support 59 children across our Foster Care, Family of Origin as First Priority (FOR-1), and Emergency Care programs. Currently, there are three more children in the assessment and enrollment process who will be entering our program soon.  

This past year, ABLE’s founder, Lisa, has been busy working on an off-shoot project, Enhancing Service Provision for Children with Disabilities (ESP). Thepurpose of this project is to build capacity in local communities to support children with disabilities and their families. 

“We know what families who care for children with disabilities need to succeed. Throughout Cambodia, government policy states children should be in their own families, so how do we make this possible throughout the nation?” 
 
To prevent their relinquishment to residential care, there are several different touch points to address. There’s awareness and advocacy. There are resources and availability. One focus of her new project is to address service needs by training and coaching staff who are working with people with disabilities in community roles. This training component includes six modules covering topics from rights and inclusion of children with disabilities to caring for children with specific disabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism. Additionally, the project will work to build relationships with subnational and local authorities, helping to increase their awareness of the needs of children with disabilities and their families in their communities. The project also helps connect authorities with what resources are available locally and regionally. 

A few weeks ago, the new director of the Department of Welfare for Persons with Disabilities came to the opening of the training course for the participants in Phnom Penh and Kandal province. 

Lisa expanded on the main aims of the project, “We will provide training and coaching with organizations. There will be site visits and consultations with local authorities. Then, training and working with families and parents to promote development for their children. I am hoping for an overlap in how these activities inform each other. We want to promote relationships between the authorities and those we teach.” 
 
CIF believes in multiplication, collaboration, and passing on our skills and knowledge. We know we cannot face every aspect of family-based care and caring for children with disabilities without so many others on board. 

While the ABLE Program gets excited about the big picture, bringing others along to grow and journey, we also get life from small progress in each one of the children in our care.  

Recently the staff celebrated a little girl in our program, Thida*. Thida lives with her family in one of Cambodia’s rural villages. With development delays, she was far behind other children her age in motor skills, language, etc. Living rurally, far from many services with a family who works hard to meet basic needs, this sweet girl and her family needed extra support and encouragement. Through the implementation of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and the help from our local community trainer, her fine motor skills are beginning to progress.   

The ABLE program exists so that children with chronic illness and disabilities can live in loving families and develop to the best of their abilities. Whether it’s the 59 children in ABLE, little Thida, or the children in the communitieswhere other organizations and government entities are being equipped, they deserve family. They deserve belonging. They deserve access to care.