Being Welcomed Home
We believe in the importance of individualized care for every girl who comes into our Dream Home restorative care program in Cambodia.
Doing what is best for them, in the short-term and long-term, is always our ultimate purpose.
As a girl learns how to move from her traumatic past toward true healing, she starts to open up and explore new hopes for her future. Many times, these aspirations include reconnecting with family and friends.
While we hope to make this possible for every client, unfortunately it’s not always the healthiest or safest thing to do. In some girls’ cases, that environment is what brought forth the initial abuse and paved the way for further exploitation.
So to help make sure family reintegration is the best decision, our team does a thorough investigation of the family’s living situation, overall health, and potential safety concerns before considering reintroduction. If our team affirms that it is a good environment for the girl, the reintegration process starts whenever she is truly ready.
Nothing is ever rushed.
Facing your life before the years of darkness is not an easy thing for anyone to walk through. No client should ever feel like she’s been thrown into something she’s not fully prepared to transition into, and no family should be expected to know how to cope with their daughter being back after years of separation.
However, when reintegration with a family happens, it is truly a joyous event for our team. Recently, we celebrated with a young woman who reintegrated with her family after graduating from the Dream Home. Vathana* is 18 years old and had been at the Dream Home for the past three years. After graduation last month, Vathana was ready to return to her small village in Cambodia. Her plan is to live at home while she finishes high school and continues working her part-time job.
“I think Hope for Justice prepared me well for the world outside the school environment. My life at home is not very different from my life at Dream Home: I wake up early, I go to school, I help my mum cook and do the housework and, if I want to go out, I need to tell my parents where I go and with who. Just like at the Dream Home.” – Vathana
And on Vathana’s first day home, she was welcomed as any daughter should be.
“When I arrived at home, my family was so happy to see me! They even organized a welcome party. They hugged me and kissed me and I felt like they didn’t want to let me go.”
