Studies show that for every $1 spent on prevention the savings are anywhere from $7 to $30.
Last week while doing contract work at a residential therapy program, I was poignantly reminded of why I began Hands to Hearts and why our work is so critical. I was reintroduced to the seemingly endless list of families in utter crisis who were spending over $23,000 for their teen to spend 7 weeks in treatment. Last I knew a day in a psychiatric hospital cost over $800/day. YIKES – and these are the visible costs, the costs to the family, community, schools, and child – rarley can these be neatly tallied in dollar values.
HHI’s model is designed on a simple of model of giving thousands of our world’s highest risk children the best care possible, while in one of the worst case scenarios – that of being orphaned and growing up in institutions. Who is respsonsible for these children – deceased, ill, or profoundly impoverished parents, the communities (also grappling with similar issues), the governments (they get my vote!)? Or does it make sense that while Americans who are adopting a small number of children from the country they can make a contribution to not only ensure the best possible care for their next child, but can impact thousands of children left behind and the communities they came from? This makes sense!
I know that adoptive parents pay steep costs to adopt overseas, its expensive and due to this the families that make this choice often make considerable sacrafices to do so, and many families simply cannot afford to adopt. Adding the small fee for a child to come from a orphanage with Hands to Hearts nannies (anticipated to be about $1,500) on top of the already great expense of international adoption can be viewed as overwhelming. But step back for a moment and put things in perspective. If you are paying this fee – this is YOUR CHILD! Most people have been talked up more than this buying a car and add that on to your mortage and you would never even notice.
For HHI to reach thousands of children we must find the way that this can become a sustainable model, which means finding those who have a vested interest in seeing nurturing care for orphaned children. Until now, HHI has been generously supported on the donations of my friends, familiy and foward thinking foundations like the James R. Greenbaum, Jr. Family Foundation. This is getting us off the ground, but these are not long-term solutions, our small group must grow. People must join us, get involved, create awareness and cause the demand that children who are adopted from overseas are “Hands to Hearts children”.
The cost will be minimal, but first the demand must first be created. Please go forward and talk with potential adoptive families, let them know that they can not only find children who have had quality care, but they can make this the model for entire countries to ‘adopt’ as policy.
Contact our partners at Journeys of the Heart and ask how you can find an HHI child – then go tell the world!
