Last November, we announced our expansion into Jalisco after months of discussions with government officials. Jalisco's leaders wanted to strengthen and expand their foster care program, and they invited The Hope Effect to work alongside them.
Together, we signed a contract establishing a formal consultation model. Instead of running a separate program, our team works within the government's own system. We help strengthen the policies and practices that determine how quickly a child can be placed with a family, so fewer children spend years in institutional care.
In our first year, 30 new families became certified to provide family care, and 21 children moved out of an orphanage and into a family.
Jeremías and Salma
Jeremías and Salma* were both born to mothers struggling with addiction. Each needed hospitalization and treatment before being sent directly to an orphanage. Instead of being surrounded by the love of a family, they were surrounded by the walls of an institution. Both lived there for years before a better way became available.
Earlier this year, both were welcomed into families through pre-adoptive foster care. Jeremías joined his family shortly before turning three. Salma joined hers right after her second birthday. Today, both are thriving and growing up in families of their own.
A New Path
When The Hope Effect began working in Jalisco, our team helped the government expand its definition of foster care to include a legal provision known as pre-adoptive foster care. Most governments in Mexico have yet to take advantage of this option.
Sometimes called “foster-to-adopt” in the United States, pre-adoptive foster care allows families who are already certified to adopt to welcome a child while the legal adoption process moves forward. In some cases, that process can take up to four years.
Without this option, a child waiting to be adopted would remain in an orphanage for that entire time. Pre-adoptive foster care means children move into permanent families sooner. It also spares them an additional attachment break, because the family they join while they wait is the family they stay with.
The difference family-based care makes is measurable. In one orphanage in Mexico, children wait an average of six years for a family, and fewer than 1% ever reach a permanent one. In The Hope Effect's family-based care programs, children wait about two years, spending that time with a foster family instead of in an orphanage. And 99% go on to a permanent family through reunification, kinship care, or adoption.
What’s Next in Jalisco
Welcoming a child who has spent years in an orphanage takes preparation and ongoing support. This year, we hired a psychologist to provide follow-up and support to foster families in Jalisco.
And this is just the beginning. In 2027, we plan to expand our work in Jalisco, recruiting more foster families and welcoming even more children into the arms of a family.
When governments like Jalisco's embrace family care, the impact extends far beyond one child. It changes what is possible for generations of children still waiting for a family.
A Better Way. For Every Child. GivingTuesday.
This GivingTuesday, December 1, you can help carry this momentum forward. We are aiming to raise $350,000 to prepare more foster families, support children as they settle in, and equip the government leaders making family care possible. And every gift made between now and December 1 will be matched up to $175,000.
Here’s what your matched gift can do:
$60: Helps prepare a family to welcome a child into their home and hearts.
$120: Provides a month of therapeutic support for a child as they settle into a family.
$250: Carries one child’s legal path out of an institution and into a permanent family.
$500: Trains government leaders pioneering family-based care.
And you don’t have to wait until December 1. Our GivingTuesday site is live now, and all gifts made through that page will be matched.
Thank you for joining us as we change the way the world cares for orphans. Because there is a better way, for every child.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the children.