Restavek Freedom is singularly focused on an audacious mission: to end child slavery in Haiti within our  lifetime. Restavek is a system of child slavery which affects more than 300,000 children, in which a  profoundly impoverished family will send their child to a marginally less impoverished family in hopes  that the child will receive adequate care and an education in exchange for doing a few light household  chores. Instead, these children are often cut off from their birth families, physically and psychologically  abused, eat and sleep on the ground, are expected to perform nearly all household tasks, and rarely  receive an education. 

Restavek Freedom works at the grassroots level with like-minded Haitians, including the government’s  Brigade for the Protection of Minors, churches, schools, community partners, and others. We act to  protect children now, while focusing on eliminating the conditions that put children at risk in the first  place. 

General ignorance about reproduction and personal rights has led to many Haitian families becoming  too large for parents to adequately support. This becomes the impetus to send children into restavek children who then risk repeating the cycle as adults. Girls in domestic slavery without knowledge of how  their bodies work and of their rights are especially vulnerable to exploitation and early pregnancy. Our  goal is to ensure all children in Restavek Freedom’s Child Advocacy program know how their bodies  work, how to avoid pregnancy until they choose it, and have confidence to make their own decisions  about sexuality. 

With the Dorothea Haas Ross Foundation’s generous grant, Restavek Freedom launched a reproductive  empowerment education and mentoring program. Now 1,500 children in our programs throughout Haiti  are empowered and informed about their reproductive health and rights, have gained knowledge of  how their bodies work, know how to avoid pregnancy until they desire to have children, and have  confidence to make their own decisions about sexual behavior. The curriculum developed through these  efforts is now a permanent part of Restavek Freedom’s work with children. Our hope is that these  efforts will reduce the number of children who drop out of school and our Child Advocacy program due  to becoming a parent. Gratefully, our partnership with the Dorothea Haas Ross Foundation will have  generational impact on families in Haiti and has helped us move closer to ending the devastating system  of child slavery. 

Children have expressed how much the program has aided them to take charge of their bodies  (translated from Kreyol): 

- Restavek girl in Nazon: “I have learned today how to protect myself from sex, because getting  pregnant early will let me fail with my dreams.” 

- Restavek girl in Les Cayes: “The first time I saw blood in my underwear I was very afraid because  I did not know what was happening to me. I thought I was injured. I didn’t want to tell my host  aunt for fear she would beat me.” 

- Restavek boy in Les Cayes: “This is the first time anyone has spoken about sex education with  me. It made me understand that there are many things that, if I’d known them in advance, I  would not have started having sex yet.”