Both Ends Believing, or BEB, is a Plano-based nonprofit that has created a software that identifies children living in institutions and orphanages, seeks out their familial origins, living relatives and medical needs, and gives this information to the child’s social worker.
Through this five step program (create a digital profile, find a path to family, qualify prospective families, match a child to a family and ensure a successful placement), many children are reunited with family members, while others are adopted.
Currently, the nonprofit works with children in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Uganda, Paraguay, Mexico and Ecuador. This year, the software has begun including children from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania. As of December, 33,000 children had active profiles on the website.
“We are excited about the roll out of all the system modules to the entire country and children’s homes [of Uganda]. We are also looking forward to the building of capacity of our social service workforce who are key stakeholders in the implementation of the system,” Ugandan Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Developmentboth Permanent Secretary Aggrey David Kibenge said in a press release.
With thousands of children already housed in the continent and 12 child welfare services in Nigeria already committed to using the software, the additional countries serviced could help thousands more reunite with their families or find their forever homes.
