Care-Leaver Support

Children who grow up in orphanages and then age out have insurmountable challenges as young adults. We help care-leavers adjust to life in the world outside the orphanage gates and empower them to use their voices to bring about change.

Case management

When a young adult ages out of an orphanage, they find themselves in an extremely vulnerable situation. They may have a high school diploma but have not been adequately prepared to live on their own in the real world. It is very easy for these care-leavers to simply disappear due to a lack of case management services. Continued follow-up is vital in order to see how these young people are adjusting to their new lives. We maintain contact, make sure they have what they need, and that their new environment is safe. We also use this transitional time to guide and encourage the care-leavers and plug them into various empowerment programs.

VSLA Groups

After aging out of an orphanage, a care-leaver’s expenses dramatically increase. Not only are they trying to navigate an unfamiliar world, but they struggle just to put food on the table and provide for their most basic needs. Many begin to have families of their own. Based on best practices, we connect care-leavers to a Village Savings & Loans (VSLA) Group so they learn about financial literacy and eventually have the opportunity to take loans for starting a small business. We have seen the positive impact that a simple small business can have on the life and future of a care-leaver and their family.

Liberia care-leaver network

The LCN is our dream for the future! We desire to have a support network for care-leavers in Liberia that can walk alongside every young adult that grows up in and ages out of an orphanage. We hope this group will provide emotional and physical support and, by joining together, care-leavers’ voices will be heard. The world needs to hear these stories and their voices need to be invited into conversations that impact policy-making, both in Liberia and on the international stage. Our plan is for the Liberia Care-Leaver Network to connect with care-leaver groups in other African countries, and that their voices together will raise awareness and affect change.