Jojo’s Sanctuary's mission is not to be just another "children's home", but to provide a family environment where their individual needs can be supported.
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Family-based foster care developing in Chiang Mai
Story and photos by Heather Askew
Nam Fon (name changed for confidentiality) rushed into the after school center, sobbing her heart out. “My mom just got arrested and I don’t know what to do,” she cried. We found out that, like many other undocumented single parents, her mom had resorted to illegal means to support her family.
As an American, my first instinct was to call social services and have her placed in foster care for the two months her mother would be in jail. I soon found out that no such system existed in Chiang Mai at the time.
After getting advice from other people who work with children in Chiang Mai, the staff realised that not only was formal foster care not an option, there were no foundations that provided short-term care either.
Eventually, Nam Fon was able to stay with an American family and receive the individual love and support she desperately needed, while continuing to attend school and our after-school programme.
We knew Nam Fon was not the first child to have this happen, and she wouldn’t be the last. Short-term care for children in this situation was needed in Chiang Mai, but what could we do about it?
Fast forward five years to 2016 when our former team came together with the idea to work in the Thai community to find families who could provide short-term (up to one year) foster care for children in crisis situations.
Our organisation could then continue to support the family by providing a family strengthening programme after the family was back together.
This idea was formed in the wake of a terrible tragedy involving a little boy we knew called Jojo who had died as a result of child abuse after being placed in informal foster care with a relative who had no experience raising children. As a result, we named our new project in his honour, and Jojo’s Sanctuary, a place where children and families can come for safety and assistance, was born.
As we started developing this project, we were excited to learn that the Thai government had already begun creating a family-based system to care for orphaned and vulnerable children.
The pilot project in Chiang Mai has been running successfully for several years, but they have only been looking for homes for children needing long-term care.
Jojo’s Sanctuary wants to be a part of the solution, by not simply opening another “children’s home” but actually providing a family environment where children who have experienced trauma can be supported in their individual needs, continue their education and return home to their family with continued support from us and their community.
Two of our founders, Butsaba and Jay, a married couple, will become foster parents themselves, being the first family registered with the Thai foster program to specifically provide short-term care for children.
Jojo’s Sanctuary, as a project of the Family Connection Foundation, will
- work with the Thai government to educate and empower Thai families to provide short- term care for children in crisis,
- work with the families of children receiving short-term care to make sure children grow up in a safe and caring home after they are reunited, and
- work in communities to create teams of community leaders who can implement child protection strategies in their area to protect vulnerable families and children from being separated.
To help launch this program, we are asking for assistance from the public to join us in changing the way vulnerable children are cared for by helping us furnish the location that will double as a foster home and a training center for families. In our first week, we raised 25,000 baht from cash and online donations, and our campaign runs until October 1. You can read more about our campaign and programming here: https://asiola.co.th/en/campaign/jojossanctuary
People can choose different levels to donate at, each level eligible for a reward connected to our team. These include t-shirts specially designed for the campaign to hand-crafted clothing, art and wood carvings. Check out our trailer below and help us build up the next generation of Thailand.
