She sells candy in the street and earns about three dollars a day. Her daily expenses are more than three dollars: the rent for a small room where they all sleep together on one mattress and one meal a day. She doesn’t have money for breakfast nor dinner, let alone for clothes, school materials, etc. That is why the mother chose to keep the kids away from school and take them with her while she’s selling in the streets. This even turned out to be in her advantage, because people rather buy from the “poor little ones” than from her.

When a neighbor run into Sofía and the other kids begging for money, he informed the Children’s Court. They brought the case to the Child ‘N Family center, requesting us to offer our services to this family. After various persistent visits, the desperate mother finally confided in our social worker Sandra. We came to the conclusion that the situation of the children can improve if we carefully accompany the family in different ways. Sandra went to the school to enroll the children and to explain the risk situation; now they will also keep an extra eye on them. We have purchased the school materials for this year, so the mother can’t use that as an excuse anymore to keep the children away from education. Furthermore, we offer them family therapies and individual sessions in their home and in our center. We teach the mother and her children some basic values, we stimulate their self-esteem and we guide them in improving the structure in their lives. Sandra is also giving advice to the mother on where she can find a better job with a higher income.

We will continue to guide Sofía and her family for a while, socially and psychologically, until they will function in a more self-sufficient and healthier way.

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