What Happens at a Host Parent Meeting?

By Robenson
Saint-Hilaire, Child Advocate

Host parent meetings are an important element of our Child Advocacy program.  We recognize that it would be very difficult to create change by working only with children in restavek, and not considering the families with which they live.  In order to change the children’s situations, we work to change their host parents’ mentality towards them.  We do this through both home visits and host parent meetings.

At host parent meetings, we address key issues, including children’s rights, children’s needs, the importance of adults in children’s lives and the value of children.  Our goal is to influence host parents so they view children differently.  We understand that if they view the children differently, they will treat them differently.  Only in this context will the children have a chance to grow in a secure environment that breeds self-confidence.

Sometimes the most powerful agent of change is one host parent’s testimony that they share directly with the others.  One day, we were having a meeting for host parents when a woman stood up and shared her story with the group.  She explained how she had gone to church for her birthday, and the pastor talked about the family and about children.  She told the group how it seemed as if the pastor were talking directly to her.  She had a child living at her house who was not her own, and she treated him very
differently than her own son.  Listening to the pastor talk about children, she felt ashamed, guilty and sad because she understood the harm she had done to this boy.
That day, she began treating the boy well.  This testimony was very powerful to the other host parents at the meeting.

We understand that sensitization is a process, and sometimes it takes time to change people’s mentalities.  This year I met with 54 host parents through meetings like this one.  We believe that when many people talk about a certain issue, it has a profound effect.  This is why we work hard to tell as many people as possible that the restavek system in Haiti is something we need to combat, and it is adults’ responsibility to change it.