Foster Care

Ratanak International is honoured to be engaged in the provision of a series of Foster Care homes as part of our ongoing commitment to the continued support of the victims of sex trafficking in Cambodia. The Foster Care program, through our partner agency, Hagar, provides a safe, stable, long term, Christian family environment for ethnic Vietnamese kids rescued from the brothels of Cambodia. Our desire is that such victims will not only recover but will know a well-adjusted and balanced family environment. Our goal is that their lives would be whole, and even joyful, as they move toward life as independent adults. It is with wonderful to participate in the healing of these girls.

Foster Care provides the second phase of the rehabilitation for these children as they move into a home environment with the full support of carefully checked foster parents. The aim is to provide high quality, long term specialised care for girls who have been rescued from sexual abuse and exploitative situations, in a strong, family style, community based and secure home environment. Here the girls can be nurtured through the adjustments often associated with community integration and receive assistance and guidance regarding their goals. Each of the girls is catching up on their education with a 95% pass rate being achieved in end of year exams.

In addition, the girls are provided legal representation and supported through the court process related to their files and protected from as much of the associated trauma as possible.

The program is subject to ongoing independent third party evaluations and the results are used to fine tune and improve the program.

Case Study

Srey is 17 years old and is now studying in grade 8 at a private Cambodian school. She has great potential for her future. She comes from a family of 4 children and has an older sister, and a younger brother and sister. Her younger sister now lives in the foster home after Srey requested that she come to live with her as she was worried for her safety. Her parents are divorced because of domestic violence and alcohol problems.

Srey came to live in Foster Care in 2005. She was raped by her father and he had plans in place to sell her to work in a Phnom Penh karaoke bar. When her older sister knew of this, she took Srey to a human rights organisation who, in turn, asked that Srey be placed in the Foster Care program.

In the beginning, it was hard for Srey living in the Foster home. She felt no one loved her or cared about her. Even her father, whom she loved, did “the worst things” to her. She had no trust in people around her.

However, now Srey has a house mother who cares for her and she enjoys the regular therapy sessions with her counsellor. She feels loved now, and she is able to value herself and others. She is growing into a beautiful, vibrant, intelligent, young lady who will one day be a responsible adult. She wants to study at university after finishing high school and would like to be a translator.