With support from the Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation, we recently conducted a strategic learning session with our Survivor Leadership Council (SLC) on social welfare programs for children in residential and community-based settings. The Consuelo Foundation is committed to promoting the well-being of at-risk children, women, and families in the Philippines and Hawai’i and to preventing their abuse, neglect, and exploitation. As a part of this commitment, the Consuelo Foundation team recognizes the value of consulting with survivors in designing and strengthening programs.
To embody this commitment, Consuelo Foundation launched a series of learning sessions to understand survivors’ own recommendations for strengthening social welfare programs for children in residential and community-based settings. Eleison was one of the few agencies selected to participate in this project. The project seeks to identify the challenges and resources needed by social service agencies, children, and youth in implementing child-focused aftercare services and transitional programs for children who have been assessed as ready for community reintegration. Through eliciting the insights of survivors, the project seeks to ultimately strengthen youths’ successful transitions to independent living or family reunification.
Through the recent Learning Session, survivor leaders on Eleison’s leadership council provided strategic consultation for the Consuelo team on how to improve residential and community-based services for abused and exploited children. This project demonstrates our longstanding commitment at Eleison to centering survivors’ voices and recommendations in raising standards of care for children and youth who have experienced abuse and exploitation.
