Since our inception, Child Advocacy has been the flagship of our work. Our Child Advocates are trained to notice visible signs of a child trapped in domestic slavery, including malnutrition, physical abuse, and disease from neglect. Once they identify a child whom they suspect of being in restavek, they approach the host family and intervene on behalf of the child by establishing and building a relationship of trust. Then, they are able to educate the host family about the fair and ethical treatment of children. Actionable steps are taken to protect the child, like reducing the child’s workload, stopping physical abuse, providing proper nutrition, and sending the child to school.
But the work does not end there. Child Advocates continue to visit and mentor the children they have been paired with, ensuring the host family continues to treat them well and following up with their progress in school.
Since Restavek Freedom launched, 4,000 children and counting have been cared for, educated and protected through our Child Advocacy program.
In some cases when a biological family’s situation and capacity to care for their child has significantly improved, we can facilitate reunifying them with their child. With the help of Child Advocates, enslaved children are safely returned to their families, who are supported with the necessary resources that their child needs to thrive at home.
Additionally, Restavek Freedom partners with the Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM), Haiti’s child protection police unit. We have worked alongside the governmental justice systems to build a Child Protection database and have provided anti-trafficking training. Our partnership with BPM has helped increase the strength of the rule of law to protect children and apprehend perpetrators, particularly those who sexually abuse the children with them in restavek.
The Transitional Home began out of a frustration that were no accessible solutions for young girls who were in desperate need of being removed from their current circumstances. Child Advocates struggled emotionally when sending girls back into homes where they were being physically and sexually abused. These girls needed a safe space where they could grow and develop.
Restavek Freedom’s Transitional Home is just that—a haven for up to twenty-four girls who have been removed from the restavek system. The home provides a nurturing environment where young girls receive care, education, and emotional and psychological support as they transition from a life of exploitation to one of freedom and opportunity. The program not only addresses immediate needs like shelter and food, but also offers counseling and skills training to help them regain their dignity and prepare for a brighter future. By fostering a sense of community and self-worth, Restavek Freedom empowers these young survivors to heal, grow, and ultimately reintegrate into society as confident and independent individuals.
Fabienne* entered the Transitional Home in 2010, when she was 10 years old. Before she arrived at the Transitional Home, she says her life was “like a horror movie.” She could not go to school or church, eat enough, shower, or play with other kids her age. Instead, she did backbreaking work both in the house and business place of her host parent.
When she came to the Transitional Home, she found “all that she should have had as a child”: food, school, a bed that wasn’t the floor, therapy, and medical care.
The experience truly transformed Fabienne’s life. She is now in university studying agronomy—something she’d never considered possible before she lived in the Transitional Home.
*Name has been changed for privacy and protection.
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