The Charis Project Family Crisis Holistic Intervention Model

The highest justice for children is a strong healthy family.

When families fall deeply into crisis they often fall apart and the children suffer the most.

• Children suffer inside a family in crisis in the form of neglect and abuse.

• The disintegration of the family leads to

1. Abandonment
   1. Homelessness
   2. “Orphanage”
2. Exploitation
   1. Trafficking
   2. Slavery
      1. Commercial/labor
      2. Sexual

The Charis Project works to intervene at the point of family crisis to avert the cascade of evil that the children are in danger of falling into.

Our model deploys 3 integrated phases of engagement. Step 1 is strictly limited to families that are actively “falling off the edge,” Step 2 and Step 3 are open to all who have the desire to become stronger in order to protect their families from crisis and disintegration.

STEP 1 – Family Engagement Program

—Our first step of intervention is to engage families in crisis and to hold out a hand of friendship and support. It involves the “hand-out” of food support and is executed in the context of intentional relationship building. We have found that while the food support is vital at the critical stage of crisis for families in extreme poverty the supportive, encouraging friendship is the main healing factor. We specifically target pregnant and nursing mothers and families with severely disabled children. While the friendship is not conditional, the hand-out is strictly policy governed and limited in duration. An unlimited hand-out is not conducive to sustainable family security or strength but tends to encourage dependence.

STEP 2 – Family Education Program

—Our second step is training and education. We have three high impact focus areas:

• How to raise Healthy, Smart, and Strong Children
  • Early Childhood Development
  • Attachment, and exclusive breastfeeding
  • How to support a school age child in their studies
• How to have a Peaceful and Supportive Household
  • Domestic violence and substance abuse
  • Positive parenting
  • Healthy marriage
• How to get sick less
  • Women’s health, pregnancy, childbirth
  • Nutrition
  • Community health, hygiene, and sanitation

STEP 3 – Family Enterprise Program

—Our third step is empowerment toward sustainable health and strength. Here we employ creative financing programs to partner with families to empower them to create their own financial security.

While we don’t criticize the responsible use of well applied micro-lending in this area we feel that this model does not fit well with the relational model of healing that is fundamental to our approach. In other words, we do not want to shift our relationship with the families we are working with from supportive partner to creditor.

The core of our model of financial empowerment for family enterprise is the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). We train communities in managing and administering their own micro savings and loan. This globally validated model brings the community together to save together and to empower each other. This model gives us a number of advantages over and above the intrinsic effectiveness of the model itself:

• Each member is assessed both in terms of character and ability and rated by the community that knows them and their capacities most intimately
• The community has a stake in the honesty and effectiveness of their assessments
• These assessments are available to us, the assisting foundation, to aid us in the assessment of possible clients for further support for their family enterprise.

From this base we have three main additional modes of engagement.

• VSLA membership: we become additional members in the VSLA adding to the capital available to the community and earning interest on our investment along with the the other members
• Rent-To-Own: we supply capital equipment (such as sewing machines, tools, etc.) on a rent to own contract basis
• Equity Partnerships: we make equity investments in select family-enterprise ventures to assist them in scaling their businesses

The Charis Project deploys an integrated suite of targeted services to save the lives of children by healing, strengthening, and keeping their families together. We do this in the context of ongoing supportive intentional relationship. Our vision is for every child to be in a strong healthy family.

Aaron Blue

Aaron is the co-founder of The Charis Project. He is the current CEO also. In Thailand he is president and director of Shade Tree Foundation, our Thai partner foundation.