As anyone who has visited Dorie’s Promise recently can share, a shift is occurring within our home. More and more, our resources are being divided between two distinct needs: older children who have lived at Dorie’s Promise long-term and short-term foster placements.

Affirming Our Mission

Our mission at Dorie’s Promise has always been to passionately serve children in Guatemala.

When founder Heather Radu came to Guatemala in 2000, she created a home where pregnant mothers were supported and children received outstanding care during the international adoption process. After international adoptions closed, we transitioned into long-term orphan care to honor our ongoing commitment to the children living in our home who were left without family resources.

The needs of families and children in Guatemala remain great. Dorie’s Promise continues to support struggling families and children within the family court system.

Understanding the Shift

Without international adoptions, domestic Guatemalan adoptions and biological family reunification increased as priorities within the family court system. Everyone involved in the care of orphaned and abandoned children ultimately wants to find safe, loving families for children in need.

Although overall adoption rates remain relatively low, local agencies are working with the family court and homes like ours to highlight adoptable children and connect families. Their efforts are changing the narrative and highlighting the value of domestic adoption.

Concurrently, the courts are expanding their efforts to identify viable family resources. Increased support services are now available for both immediate and extended family. Depending upon the case, this can look like older (adult) siblings, biological parents with whom the child did not live previously, aunts, uncles, and even grandparents stepping in to care for the children.

Whether through adoption or reunification, the value of permanent placement within a family is immeasurable.

Our Role in the Solutions

Dorie’s Promise fills the gap between when a child enters the court system and when that child is ultimately placed with a family permanently.

In recent years, we’ve experienced a noticeable shift in how cases process and the type of care needed. To ultimately lessen the frequency and total length of time in care, potential family resources enter the vetting process as quickly as possible, but prior to taking custody. This allows them to be a party to the proceedings while also giving the court time to evaluate the placement without the potential trauma of additional removal due to incompatibility or inadequate resources.

Dorie’s Promise, and other homes like ours, cares for these children during the vetting process.

So far in 2024, we have received 10 children into our home as foster placements. During the same time, several children left with various family members. Siblings Rene, Jack, and Noe were reunited with family this spring, having joined us last summer. Isaias and Sofia returned home after 6 years at Dorie’s Promise. Dylan spent just a few months with us before returning home.

This summer, we anticipate several other children being reunited with their family as well.

Opportunities for our Forever Changed Community

Our team at Dorie’s Promise Guatemala and US-based Forever Changed International staff is committed to meeting the needs of children in Guatemala long-term.

We invite you to be part of meeting the very real needs of all the children at Dorie’s Promise.

For our older children, we invite you to consider becoming a monthly sponsor. Sponsorship provides for their complete care, including individualized school placement, on-site medical and mental health care, and the safe home they love. Become a sponsor today at this link. **

For the many foster children living at Dorie’s Promise while their cases progress through the family court system, we invite you to give a special gift today. Their needs and the length of their stay in our home are unpredictable. Your special gift gives them the stability of a home until they are reunited with family.

Our donors and sponsors allow Dorie’s Promise to provide a safe, loving home for Guatemalan children. Thank you.