Casa Alianza Honduras

Country: Honduras

Program: Casa Alianza Honduras

Location: Tegucigalpa

Background of Street Children in Tegucigalpa.

From January 1998 to May 2000 there have been 181 documented murders of children under the age of 18.  In 36 cases (19% of all cases) it has been proven that the police or security forces were responsible for the murder.

In Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela there are between 1,200 to 1,500 street children.  In Tegucigalpa, one new child in is forced to go to the streets every day and that number sometimes is higher. Sometimes there are 42 new children in the streets in a month.

Ninety to Ninety-five percent of the street children are inhaling Resistol, a toxic glue, that is obtained in the markets, and sometimes provided to the children by shoemakers.  The children inhale the glue to get rid of cold, hunger and the anxiety of being on the streets.

Sponsorship Program:  Private donors and sometimes awards.

History of Program.

The Covenant House, was first founded in New York City in 1969 by Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan priest.  Casa Alianza is the Latin American branch of the New York-based Covenant House.  Casa Alianza has two clear goals as an agency. One is to provide direct services for the street children in the countries where we are working. The second is to be an advocate for the children - to raise our voices for the street children who have no voice, and to empower the children to raise their own voicesThe program focused initially on a non-residential program for children living in the street, then developing each of the residential stages.  Casa Alianza/Covenant House Latin America works to defend and rehabilitate street children.  Casa Alianza was founded in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in September of 1987. 

               

Approximate number of children served. 

Casa Alianza Honduras serves about 200 children in its residential programs, and the organization's street educators and legal aid staff attend to the needs of another 1,000 street children each year.

Characteristics of the children served: 

PHYSICAL FEATURES

A.Very dirty, generally do not wear shoes and have leftovers of glue in their bodies.
B.Shows malnutrition
C.Evidence skin diseases and problems with their respiratory system.
V.Suffer venereal diseases

SOCIO EMOTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

a.They engage in different activities in order to survive, such as begging, steal prostitution.
b.In order to survive they build strong bonding
c.Intolerant to frustration
d.Vulnerable to peer pressure
e.Manipulation either conscious or unconscious is their main survival tool.
f.Use drugs to escape from depression or frustration
g.No goals, no vision of future, live the moment.
h.They hang out or live in crowded places so they can perform their activities.

How children are recruited: 

Outreach and Street Educators Team

 Casa Alianza's Outreach teams work to reach out to the children on the streets contacting children in order to establish a relationship with them, building trust and then motivating them to join Casa Alianza Honduras.   The outreach teach provides children with emergency medical care, counseling, non-formal education, and friendship.  The children are then encouraged to leave the streets and seek further assistance at the Crisis Centers ("Refugios"), where they can get immediate, around-the-clock care and the benefit of an attentive ear, an instructive tongue and a compassionate heart.

Program Services.

Family Reintegration

Casa Alianza strives to reintegrate them with their extended families -- except where a pattern of abuse has been identified. A dynamic aftercare and follow-up program targets children who have lived in the streets but have since been reunited with their kin. Casa Alianza social workers meet on a monthly (or more) basis with the child and family members during the first year. In the last 12 months, 145 street children rejoined their families in Honduras.

Mums and Babies

In response to the growing number of street girls who become pregnant, and to prevent the deaths of babies there who are dying from lack of care, Casa Alianza initiated the "Moms and Babies" program for street girls and their children. The program offers rehabilitation services, including individual and group therapy, child-care training, vocational training, as well as pediatric and gynecological treatment. This program helps the girls bond with and learn to care for their children. It also gives them an opportunity to develop life skills, learn a trade, work, and save enough money to live independently. The home can serve up to 12 mothers and their babies, who can stay with Casa Alianza until the baby reaches five-years-old.

Drug Rehabilitation

Casa Alianza administers drug rehabilitation centers for boys addicted to solvent based shoe glue. The centers immerse the boys in intensive occupational, individual, and group therapies. These programs are highly structured, and offer some vocational training. Following an average stay of three months, the boys advance to a Transition Home, or toward reintegration with their families.

Legal Aid Services

The Legal Aid office assists children with civil law matters, such as the acquisition of birth certificates and identity cards needed to matriculate in school or benefit from other social services.  In February 1994, a Legal Aid Office for Street Children was also established in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The legal aid office has done an enormous amount of work fighting for children rights. So far in this period they have accused approximately ten judges for authority abuse and illegal detention of children.  From these, six were declared in favor of the children resulting in an economic sanction to the judges and five days of their salaries. Also, as a consequence of Casa Alianza accusations the Public Minister has processed three judges. Since the office has been open, an average of 132 judicial actions has been worked with. Most of these formal complaints have been Habeas Corpus because of the illegal detention of children during 1995-96

HIV/AIDS Programs

Between 1995-1997, Casa Alianza worked with six children with AIDS.  In 97-98, Casa Alianza found four carriers who are children between 15 and 17 years and are currently in the shelter. These children are drug users and transmit the disease through sexual contact.  In the daily efforts of Casa Alianza street educators and in the agency's shelters and homes, Casa Alianza provides sex education and information on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. We also promote abstinence at such an early age.

Crisis Center

Children who come the Crisis Center are fed, clothed, given a clean bed, diagnostic and medical treatment, educational and vocational training, security, and most important of all -- love and hope. In addition, all are provided with drug counseling. Only about half of those who enter the Crisis Centers initially stay more than a couple of nights. About half of the children who return to the streets will eventually re-enter the Crisis Centers for an average stay of about four months. There, they actively participate in a Plan de Vida -- a development plan -- setting attainable goals for their short-term and medium-term future. Children also participate in non-formal educational activities which prepare them for the public school system. Once the children become more stable, the children are transferred to transition homes.

Transition Homes

Young children are enrolled in public schools; older teenagers are also offered vocational training. The average residency in a Transition Home is four months. Then children will move to a group home.

Group Homes

Residency in a Group Home where children are nurtured by a carefully chosen team of counselors who try to replicate a positive family environment. It is in such a setting that children learn to bond with a surrogate family while pursuing further educational or professional opportunities. The children remain at the home until their eighteenth birthday or until they have completed their education. When the children leave the home as young adults, they have vocational and life skills indispensable for independent living. They are encouraged to pursue formal education or more advanced job training.

Philosophy or approach:

Mission

We who recognize God’s providence and fidelity to his people are dedicated to living out his Covenant among ourselves and those children we serve, with absolute respect and unconditional love.

That commitment calls us to serve suffering children of the street, and to protect and safeguard all children.

Just as Christ in his humanity is the visible sign of God’s presence among his people, so our efforts together in the covenant community are a visible sign that effects the presence of God, working through the Holy Spirit among ourselves and our children.

Core Values

Immediacy

The principle of Immediacy is related to the aspects that must be a priority for the street boys and girls. Children come to us in crisis. Children that come to our program are abandoned both materially and, particularly, emotionally.

Immediately, without questions and no other requirements but the child’s acceptance, we meet their basic human needs - a hot, nutritious meal; a shower; clean clothes; medical attention, and a safe place away from the perils of the street. The importance of the principle of Immediacy is based on identifying the priorities for the children.

With the principle of Immediacy, we take the first step in the journey of the Covenant

Special features

2000/10/19 - Casa Alianza Wins World’s Largest Humanitarian Prize!

Members and supporters of Casa Alianza / Covenant House Latin America, around the world, are today celebrating the fact that the organization has been awarded the one million dollar Conrad N. Hilton Foundation prize for the year 2000. The award, which has been described as the Nobel Peace Prize for Human Rights, recognizes “extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering.” This is the first time ever that the prize has gone to a Latin American based organization.

IN THE PATH OF MY LIFE
by Ludviw Omar Valdes

Look, look it illuminates,
the path of life,
we will defeat the forbidden life,

And we will go along the road,
which destiny had concealed
that now we see it,
we understand that
life isn't life.

If you dont have a problem to fix,
or someone for whom to fight.

That's why, on this day
you inspire me to be happy,
waiting in harmony,
we triumph in this life.

Thank you dear Casa Alianza,
for being the starting point
in this battle which inspires us
to be someone in this life.