and a general inability by native families to afford adopting children with severe health problems, there is no lack of available children. But the rules mandating three turn-downs often condemns children to years of residence in an orphanage - which becomes increasingly unhealthy.
“Normally babies are treated very mechanically,” says Vonda Jump, Senior Research Associate at the Early Intervention Research Institute at Utah State University and curriculum director for HHI. “Nobody comes to pick them up when they cry. And with babies, at first, the only way they communicate is through crying. When nobody answers their cry, they learn that that’s not successful. But they don’t know any other strategies. So they just do nothing and become these very apathetic babies.
“At most orphanages they’re not even treated like they’re human beings. They get fed at certain times. The food is basically shoveled into their mouths by rotating staff. And with that kind of care, it’s very hard for a baby to develop the self regulatory abilities they need to really thrive in this world.”
Orphanages that can hire trained caregivers have babies who are much healthier and happier and more capable of integrating into and bonding with an adoptive family. And the adoptive families have the satisfaction of not only knowing their own baby will be healthier, they have the satisfaction of knowing that their adoption fee will go to help other children in the orphanage.
“I’ve met some of the families that have adopted babies from MASOS before our program was started,” Peterson says. “And they all say ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for what you’re doing,’ because it broke their hearts to have to leave those other babies behind.”
HHI recently completed a second training session in India this year, assisting almost 40 women representing six different orphanages and reaching around 400 babies. Peterson estimates if HHI continues doing one program a month at a different orphanage each month, training about 20 women each time, the ripple effect is “pretty massive.” Already the program is garnering the positive attention of governmental officials, and HHI is preparing to expand into a second country, possibly Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, or Vietnam.
HHI is also looking for investors who can assist the organization in getting new chapters up and running. She estimates most new sites will be self-sustaining within two years.
“I definitely don’t see this as a charity,” she says. “Yes, I hope and dream someday of having a salary…but the majority of our operations are financially sustainable.”
Labeled a social entrepreneur which, she says, “feels a bit daunting,” Peterson all the same, waxes enthusiastic about taking business ideas and applying them to social issues that really can have an impact on a global scale. Next > 1 2 3 4
