Casa Viva

The Statistics Are Overwhelming
Trying to count the children who are in need of a full-time care solution is a daunting task. UNICEF says there are 150 million street children worldwide.

By the year 2010, children in sub-Saharan Africa orphaned by famine, disease, conflict, and HIV/AIDS will exceed 50 million. Family violence in Latin America claims the lives of 80,000 babies a year and leaves millions of children neglected, abused, and abandoned.

Current Solutions Will Not Solve Orphan Crisis
With so many children needing solutions, we have neither the time nor the money to build enough children's homes. It takes six years before the average new children's home is ready for their first child.

The up-front investment to build enough orphanages is staggering when multiplied by the number of children in need. Then we have to consider the large on-going cost of care. We cannot think that orphanages alone will solve this issue.

Children Need Family
Even if we could build enough orphanages, we have to ask ourselves: "Is this the best solution for these children?" God designed children to grow up in the context of a loving and caring family, surrounded by an active and natural community. Care based in families needs to be the primary response.

Solutions Must be Self-Sustainable
Engaging churches, local governments, and local donors, Casa Viva dreams of seeing the ongoing cost of caring for children supported through funds generated within the country. Rather than create long-term international financing for the program, Casa Viva desires to help the local church step out and become responsible for its efforts to care  for children. 

Casa Viva believes that the local church is God's first plan for children in need. God mandates his people to care for others by opening their doors to the stranger in need. In response to this mandate, Casa Viva invites churches to develop care ministries that support families who open their doors to children. The churches commit to recruiting and supporting the families, and they make a financial commitment to help care for the children.