The Future of Semillas de Amor Children’s Home

The future, even in the next weeks, of the Semillas de Amor children’s home is in jeopardy. We have been without a income for 18 months. We have, however, received generous donations but it is still not enough to keep our children’s home afloat. Our monthly budget, and this is bare bones, is $15,000.00. I spend as much time as possible doing fundraising but the truth is, that it is just not enough. So many children’s homes in Guatemala have closed and I wonder where the courts are putting the children? A system that was already overcrowded and understaffed is bursting at the seams. We have had to turn down children, that the courts have referred to us, because we cannot jeopardize the lives of the children already in our care. But the truth is, that their lives are in jeopardy. Without money to pay salaries, we are three pay periods behind, we are losing our staff and many of those people long term and valuable employees.

When adoptions were in open in Guatemala we were able to run our children’s home with little donation money. The fees for the children that were adopted paid for the children, that either were not adoptable or were special needs adoptions. But in the last 18 months that income has stopped as Guatemala closed adoptions due to the Hague Treaty. We have had to focus on fundraising, and generosity, to care for the kids.

Our plans for the future have been to open a small preschool for kids ages 3-5. Since we already have 15 children in that age category our school is almost full, but we will invite some children from the community. We hope to partner with an NGO in Canada to begin our school, they will provide technical support, which is a huge help to us. The overhead to care for 30, 40 or 50 kids is just so expensive and we don’t know whether they will ever have a chance at being adopted. I won’t warehouse children. The best option is to care for the 15 children we have, that do not have families, and begin our education program. We hope, at some point, the other 22 children will be going home with their adoptive families, once the Guatemalan government stops their harassment of children’s homes and quits using the kids as political pawns.

In the meantime, if you can find it in your heart and financial means, we are in desperate need of your help. No amount is too small.

We really try to keep our spirits up but right now it is tough. When we can’t pay the staff, and these are people who cannot go without a paycheck, it is so difficult. Every tiny expenditure is a luxury. The thought of sending any of these kids back into a court system that will not and does not care for them kills me. We won’t give up and we will keep fighting for the kids, the rights and their home but we need your help.

Donation information:
Donations can be made via PayPal at SAVESEMILLAS.ORG or donations can be sent, checks payable to Seeds of Love to: Seeds of Love, 905 Notre Dame DR, Woodland, CA 95695. For more information or questions please contact Nancy Bailey at nancy@semillasdeamor.org.

The slideshow shows our garden, complete with new name tags for the plants, the Scott family whose children are adopted from Guatemala, their school had a fundraiser for Semillas de Amor and raised $1500.00. Also lots of kids doing what kids do the best, having fun. Oh yes, and our new sign, that I bought over a year ago, but had to wait until we painted to put it up, Welcome to Our Home.