The vision of Dwelling Places is to see that every child has a chest to rest his head on and a place to call home. Our desire is that each child should have a permanent home, and ideally this home would be with his/her family. The Transitional Rehabilitation Home (TRH) is just a step in the journey home for a child rescued from the streets.

A child who comes to our home from the streets will typically spend two years in our care. During these two years it is our goal to show them the love of Christ by providing for their needs. We teach each child their worth in Christ while rebuilding them emotionally, spiritually and physically. While a child is in our home our Family Empowerment Program will work with the child’s family. We work to teach parents income generating projects that will provide money for shelter and food for their children to keep them off the streets. We offer counseling, encouragement and support to families whose children are in our care. If a child in our care is an orphan we will seek permanent placement through foster care or adoption.

So what happens after two years? By this point it’s time to resettle a child back with his/her family. This year we will resettle more than 30 children back with their families or immediate relatives. We believe that we have equipped these children with the skills they need to succeed in life and that their parents are ready and prepared to receive them back home. These children have been shown Christ’s love through our staff at Dwelling Places and have been taught that they can seek Him in any situation. They have been taught how to pray, where to seek their comfort and above all that God loves them.

They begin their journey home by saying good bye to the friends they have made at Dwelling Places. Some of these children have been living together for years and are more like siblings than friends. They eat meals together, wash their clothes together, play after school together and sleep in the same room together. It’s a bitter sweet good bye as a child leaves us to be reconciled with his/her family.

The journey doesn’t end with this good bye. Dwelling Places has a commitment to these children and we will ensure that they are being taken care of within their families by conducting home visits throughout the next year. Children who have been resettled will continue to be in contact with their sponsors overseas and with the staff and volunteers at Dwelling Places. These children will continue to remain part of our family.