good fathers and caring sponsors ARE BREAKING GENERATIONAL POVERTY

Although few of us are likely to say everything in their life went exactly as they planned it, Jose’s has had enough twists and turns to test anyone’s strength and resolve. Having sole custody of his children in the Dominican Republic is as unusual as it is demanding. Even if it’s a more common reality in many places around the world now, single father households in this Caribbean nation remain extremely rare.

Partly, Jose’s story speaks to how much his ex-spouse neglected their children. Mostly, though, it speaks of the courage, perseverance and love of a good father.

Four of Jose’s six sponsored children, from left: Gabriel, 14, Rafael, 12, Maria, 8, and Jesus, 5. All of them are now thriving in ways that were unimaginable just a year ago.

Crisis and connection

Jose’s spouse of 16 years became increasingly unstable as their marriage progressed and the family grew. When Jose and his wife first separated, he knew he needed to monitor his children’s well-being, because he couldn’t legally take them away from her. After a 10-month custody dispute, Jose was granted sole custody.

Sadly, the younger children were in varying states of ill health by the time they went to live with Jose. Complicating matters further, the judge ruled that Jose would have to quit working to care for the children, whose age range spans from 3 to 17. Jose faced a seemingly unsolvable conundrum: How to provide food, clothing, medicines, shelter and more for eight children in a disadvantaged household. Without working full time.

Jose says he had no way to make a deposit or even to pay rent for housing. He openly shares that he had no furniture or linens or other basic household items.

“At CI, they asked me how they could help, and they gave me three months of rent,” says Jose. “I saw God in that moment. Because of the little money I had, I’d spent [it] on the entire legal process to be able to have my children. Furthermore,” he adds, “my children came to me in a deplorable health condition. And I spent all on medicine expenses. I went broke, as they say.

“But Children International extended their hand to me: they covered three months of housing, made a purchase for shoes because my children were barefoot. Now, for the next school year, they gave us vouchers for their school supplies, because there was nothing to eat here, and I bought food instead.”

Boosting health, education and beyond

Breaking the chains of generational poverty requires ongoing, personalized interventions that are relevant and effective for the families we work with, like Jose’s. One of the ways we accomplish this is through Children International’s Connecting with Families Program. This global program ensures that local staff regularly maintain contact with sponsored children’s families, creating a powerful tool for connection. It has an amplifying effect on the impact our supporters make possible, allowing us to assess families’ needs, connect them to essential services, and help them stay engaged with our transformative programs.

“And all their medicines were provided by Children [International]. In addition,” continues Jose, “the doctor treats them with a lot of love ... very human, very loving. In every sense of the word, Children [International] has been like this family’s salvation at a time we were not expecting [it].

“The help, the human, spiritual and economic contribution that Children International has provided my children,” says Jose, “has helped one hundred percent. Life isn’t long enough to thank them for what they have given me, especially the people who have been closest to me at the institution, who have treated us better than, ‘It’s just a job.’ They treat us like family.

“Children [International],” Jose concludes, “has been like a glass of water in the greatest of deserts.”

See Jose discuss the importance of modeling values for children