If you missed our 2023 Impact Report, and reports of our planned empowerment strategies for the rest of 2024, and going into 2025, you will find a lot of the deep content in the HCW Empower Magazine Summer 2024 edition. In plotting our program trajectory over the next five years, HCW has leaned into core anchor statement No 5 and plans to do even more in this respect during 2025. We seek to strengthen and empower local ownership of the solutions, place control of mission direction and planning into the hands of the people who are closest to the problem, and balance the power between the Global North and Global South as we engage in mutual mission activities.

That's really a mouthful, isn't it? It's aspirational, sure, and it's a shift in past practices for both sides, but we are all on board with the idea that this is the way we want our world to work in the future, the way it was always intended to be.

As we look at the real world practical applications of this best practices theory, we try not to move too quickly or too slowly. Just as the case managers at the CRC are discovering in working with vulnerable families, as we seek to transfer assets and activities that are more properly managed locally, we recognize that our friends are operating in a vulnerable system, and we must only move at the fastest speed for transfer that our Global South partners can manage, but listen to their perception of what they can do, rather than standing behind the screen of our own biases.

In the next 12 to 24 months, please watch our blog posts for announcements of the activities our partners in Sierra Leone have elected to take over, and what we are learning about gracefully relinquishing control to balance power.  

After almost two years of fundraising and working on this project, Mercy Hospital has finally received a new X ray machine. This essential piece of equipment might seem commonplace in many medical facilities, but for Mercy Hospital and the community it serves, it's a giant leap forward in patient care.

Previously, diagnosing broken bones, internal injuries, and other ailments often meant referring patients to distant hospitals – a time-consuming and sometimes risky endeavor, especially for critical cases. With no other hospital in the Bo area having an X-ray machine, this often meant that patients would be referred to Freetown, 3 1/2 hours away. Now, with the X-ray machine on-site, Mercy Hospital can perform vital imaging procedures quickly and efficiently. This translates to faster diagnoses, more targeted treatment plans, and ultimately, better outcomes for patients.

Dr. Stevens, the Medical Doctor in Charge at Mercy, had this to say about the machine: "The new digital X-ray equipment will enhance our diagnostic capabilities, allowing us to provide faster, more accurate, and higher-quality imaging services to our patients. This upgrade will significantly improve patient care and support our mission to deliver exceptional healthcare services. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the donors whose unwavering support and generosity have made this possible. Your contributions are transforming healthcare in our community and beyond. Together, we are making a tangible difference in the lives of many."

The impact goes beyond immediate patient care. Mercy Hospital's reputation within the community will undoubtedly be bolstered. Having access to in-house X-ray services strengthens Mercy's ability to provide comprehensive care, attracting more patients and solidifying its position as a trusted healthcare provider.

The arrival of this X-ray machine is more than just a technological advancement for Mercy Hospital. It's a powerful symbol of hope and progress in Healthcare in Sierra Leone. It represents a brighter future where quality healthcare is more accessible, diagnoses are more accurate, and treatments are more effective. This new technology will help to save lives and improve the overall health of the community.

On June 6, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in Nigeria announced that they had uncovered multiple cases of "child adoption racketeering and human trafficking" involving many orphanages in the country.  Director-General Fatima Waziri-Azi says that "many orphanages in the country are currently under investigation.  According to Waziri-Azi,  many of these orphanages have committed several infractions that can be categorized as human trafficking.  The NAPTP is "investigating a lot of orphanages around the country... and currently prosecuting some of them," she says.

As awareness of the practice of orphanage and orphan trafficking as a conduit to international adoption continues to gain attention, countries are seeking to reinforce stronger rules to combat this issue.  On May 27, the European Union's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs announced that it is adopting new rules to reinforce the fight against human trafficking, include a specific provision connected to international adoption practices, "EU countries will be required to include the exploitation of surrogacy, of forced marriage and of illegal adoption as forms of exploitation explicitly covered by the definition of trafficking in human beings in their national law."

While the Child Reintegration Centre has not ever had a child in its program placed in an international adoption placement, international adoption is on its list of possible placements for children reintegrating through its programs; generally as one of the last possible options.  The CRC program is focused on the best practices of prioritizing family/kinship and local adoption placements to preserve the child's connection to his history and culture.  A key and critical part of the CRC's work is the thorough and complete tracing of each child's extended family in its pursuit of the right permanent placement.  However, as a child welfare and protection agency and member organization of the Sierra Leone Coalition for Family Care, the CRC has been able to assist other organizations in the Coalition with the tracing of children under consideration for international adoption, using best practices to ensure that IF an international adoption placement was determined to be the best possible placement, that it was done as ethically and legally as possible.  

HCW has shared how transforming orphanages can combat orphan trafficking in our blog post on January 12, 2024, and in our "Orphanage Trafficking - A Real Life Horror Story" episode with Coalition members, World Hope International and Child and Family Permanency Services from February 20, 2024 on Optimistic Voices. 

International adoption is often perceived as the best placement for children with major medical problems, and disabilities, and that is certainly a good argument for why people in the Global North might want to assist families struggling with caring for children for which there are no resources in their country. That is a rare and unique situation, though, and the Child Reintegration Centre in Sierra Leone has always been able to find in-country solutions for children referred to its interim care facility, even those with severe disability, and has been able to work with Mercy UMC Hospital and through HCW's emergency relief efforts and the TGH medical emergency fund to address other emergent issues that might otherwise take children out of the country and away from their community permanently. Children made deeply vulnerable by developmental delays are often targets of trafficking schemes, from organ harvesting to child labor. More organizations like Ekisa in Uganda are beginning to work to educate families on caring for their disabled children, a key for maintaining in-country placements and avoiding the trauma of family separation, and the risk of exploitation. (Jared Sheppman discusses his work with Ekisa and their philosophies on best practices for disabled children at risk of family separation with host Dr. Melody Curtiss in the April 5, and May 5, 2024 Optimistic Voices episodes. 

​Even when international adoption appears to be the best option for the welfare of a child, global child welfare agencies, governments, NGOs, local child welfare agencies, courts, and adoption service providers must all work together to ensure that they are not creating more harm than they are addressing for children, and for adoptive and biological families.