Family Preservation Symposium was a Huge Success!

Our goal: facilitate a collaboration of front-line workers in the child protection and orphan prevention space in Haiti.

102 people registered, 95 attended; 14 scholarships awarded

Let’s Do Better Together! attracted 95 participants from over 40 organizations throughout Haiti from as far as Cap-Haitien. We are pleased with the turn-out, as it far exceeded our expectation of 50 participants. We are even more pleased with the evident demand for another symposium. All the participants were united in their passion for child protection in Haiti. This strength-based symposium lifted up and relied upon the expertise of our participants as practitioners in their field. Sessions were participatory, drawing from the substantial experience in the room in order to all work together towards family preservation. We were also very pleased to have Haitians represent 32% of our participants at an English-only symposium. We look forward to increasing this percentage as we plan to offer Creole sessions in the next symposium.

12 Speakers, Facilitators & Presenters. 6 Breakout Sessions. 7 Presentation Sessions.

Keynote Speakers:

Tamara White- Founder and Executive Director of Zoeroots

Sara Thompson- Co-founder of Picture Impact

Presenters:

Anne Marie Stern- myLIFEspeaks

Scindie Saint Fleur + Lauren Neal- Jesus in Haiti Ministries

Natacha Pierre + Eugene Jr. Guillame- Lumos

Erika Childs- Espere Community Counseling Center

Morgan Weinburg- Little Footprints Big Steps

Debi Lammert- Healing Hearts International

Holly + Dan Ravenhorst- Mama Zwazo, Heartline Ministries

Highlights- What People Think

“I was very surprised to see the importance they gave to the family in all the interventions, because in Haiti we have so many orphanages. I was even more surprised still when I saw all the foreigners that were there to support you in guiding orphanages in Haiti.” Adeline Bien-Aime of Restevek Freedom

“As a director of an orphanage, who has decided to change the vision back to Family Care and locating the families of our 27 kids (for the purpose of reunification), I felt this symposium was helpful for networking and learning about others’ approaches while working towards reunification. I believe there are more orphanages out there wanting to do this but without the know-how. I am looking forward to the next symposium.” - Spencer Reeves of Child Hope International

“As someone new to Haiti and its particular challenges, the Symposium provided an opportunity to refocus and remind us of our shared vision for Haitians to experience abundant life and opportunities, however differently we may approach the challenges. It was a beautiful time to put faces to names and FB thumbnails, and begin connecting and partnering better with others who have experience in our various fields. Thanks for providing this opportunity!” Becky Ong of Little by Little

“It was so encouraging to see so many come together wanting to improve the ways we’re working in Haiti toward a common goal. One problem in Haiti is the sheer number of organizations working here that never have a chance to network and collaborate. So many people doing great work - any chance to gather and collaborate is so valuable!” Anne Marie Stern of myLIFEspeaks

Read the full report here.

Learn more about Family Preservation Symposiums here.