We work with relevant agencies to provide temporal accommodation for abandoned children whilst efforts to establish their biological families and facilitate safe return to biological families, foster families or kinship schemes are being made. Support and monitoring will continue for all children who have been successfully been placed with immediate families and foster families.

To provide and facilitate social work, training, nutrition, child care, legal services, education, disability equipment, accommodation, clothes, food, access to healthcare and child wellbeing and to facilitate rehabilitation of abandoned children to families, foster care and kinship schemes

Aim

New Hope for Abandoned Children exists to reduce the number of abandoned children by providing a platform for raising awareness, providing education and identifying biological families and rehabilitate abandoned children to families thereby improving the quality of life and wellbeing for children and ultimately end child poverty in isolated and vulnerable communities. We work to identify biological families/parents, foster parents, kinship schemes and establish and monitor placements for children.

We aim to identify children who are

1. Physically abandoned, due to reasons only known by the parent(s). The parent(s) simply abandons the child in a public place and disappear.
2. Socially abandoned and isolated because the children are orphaned due to effects of HIV AIDS, Conflict, Disability, no one wants responsibility. The child ends up in the street and street kids is a huge problem worldwide, this may also be due to the effects poverty on the community especially in developing countries.
3. Every child has the right to education; however, many children are educationally abandoned due to lack of financial resources and the effects of poverty on children.
4. Psychologically, emotionally, and physically abandoned due to imprisonment of parents.
5. Many children are abandoned, isolated and discriminated due to physical disability, learning disability and mental health issues.

Why People Abandon Their Children

Poverty, homelessness, mental health illness, unwanted pregnancy are the most causes of child abandonment. People living in countries with poor social welfare systems and who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon their children due to lack of resources.
In the UK about 60 babies are abandoned by their mothers every year. Source –
bbc.co.uk/insideout/northeast/series2/foundlings_abandonedbabies.shtml

1. Other reasons why mothers abandon their babies at birth
2. Fear of rejection from boyfriend or husband.
3. Feelings of denial which is common in adolescent mothers. Very young mums are often terrified of telling their own parents.
4. Domestic violence
5. Social taboos
6. Lack of financial support
7. Fear of being unable to cope
8. Post-natal depression

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child which says childhood is separate from adulthood, and lasts until 18, it is a special, protected time, in which children must be allowed to grow, learn, play, develop and flourish with dignity.

We believe that whether the child has been abandoned, orphaned, abused or not, they both have the same rights and New Hope for Abandoned Children seeks to work and promote the wellbeing of children.

Facts About Abandoned, Orphaned And Vulnerable Children

• In Africa there are 60 million orphaned and vulnerable children (HIV AIDS, Conflict, Disability, Street Children) – Worldbank
• India estimated 35 million orphans in 2003 (UNICEF)
• An estimated 1.2 million children, mostly orphans are traffiked every year (International Advocate for Children)
• Some 300 000 children are currently involved in diverse fighting force (Worldbank)
• At the end of 2004 roughly 48% of all refugees were children (UNICEF)
• Over 246 million children are engaged in child labour (SOS Kinderdorf)