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Who We Are
The Sparrow’s Nest is a non-profit organization that serves orphaned, abandoned, and neglected children in Latvia. Our work also includes help for families in crisis. Working with the entire family can be overwhelming but is incredibly important in bringing hope to families facing despair as a result of poverty, ignorance, and alcohol and/or drug addiction. Our vision for children and families is four-fold – Rescue, Relief of suffering, Restoration and Replacement.
To Rescue – by responding to children in crisis through direct intervention and placement within the Sparrow’s Nest family.
The heart of Sparrow’s Nest is the orphanage. Calls come from all over Latvia seeking assistance for children and families in trouble. Over the past nine years children from every region of Latvia have been rescued within the home-like atmosphere of Sparrow’s Nest. Recently, there has been a growing trend of children abandoned and living on the street. Children as young as eleven months have been brought to Sparrow’s Nest after having been found abandoned.
To Relieve – by alleviating the immediate physical and mental suffering brought about by tragedy, abuse, and neglect.
Once a child is received by the caring staff, they are seen immediately by a physician to evaluate their health. Many children are ill or suffering with chronic or life threatening ailments. Children in our care have been through open heart surgery, multiple operations to correct eye problems, reconstructive cosmetic surgery, as well as careful medical and dietary treatment to correct the effects of near starvation and long-term malnutrition. As their immediate physical suffering is relieved the children are able to relax and learn to trust within the secure and loving environment of Sparrows Nest.
To Restore – by actively seeking healing and salvation for each child through prayer, love and a wide range of resources including but not limited to medical treatment, education, therapy, and a secure environment.
Trust is easily broken and as in the case of many of our children, it has never been allowed to grow. The work of restoration begins with re-building trust. The cycle of needs expressed by a child, leading to needs being met by a loving staff member, must be repeated over and over hundreds, even thousands of times before trust is re-established.
Once a child is able to trust, he or she is able to open and address issues related to their personal trauma. The work of restoration is carried out in each area of the child’s life.
To Replace – by replacing a child back into his or her own family or in some cases where that is not possible by actively seeking placement in an appropriate loving adoptive families.
An orphanage or center for rehabilitation can never take the place of a family. Therefore our work is only complete when a child is replaced in their own family or in cases where this is not possible, they are placed in loving adoptive families.
Sparrow’s Nest supports the placement process with professional and dedicated team members and with resources to assist the biological or new adoptive family to bond with the child or children. Sparrow’s Nest is not an adoption agency, but can help facilitate the adoption process.