ABOUT US
Hope for the Fatherless was founded in 2016 by Belay T. Gebru ("Uncle Ben"). He began with a vision to see children thriving in families instead of being cared for in institutions. In March of 2017, we began our first small-group home, Hope House, with ten children. Today, HFTF is continuing this vision for family in three primary ways:
SMALL GROUP HOMES: Currently, HFTF operates three children's homes: Hope House, Faith House, and Grace House. Each home serves around ten children and provides a safe, loving, peaceful environment where children can flourish. Additionally, these children are provided high-quality educational and life skills training opportunities. Living in a smaller, family- like home brings about incredible growth and healing.
DOMESTIC ADOPTION: Since 2018, HFTF has successfully facilitated the adoption of seventeen children and helped more than fifty families begin their adoption journey. Looking ahead, HFTF plans to begin our own foster to adopt program. We especially want to be involved in training and equipping potential adoptive families, as well as, providing excellent follow-up support.
SPONSORSHIP: HFTF also supports a number of vulnerable children through sponsorship to enable them to remain in their families. Primarily, the program aims to cover all education expenses such as uniforms, supplies, tutors, and tuition in some cases. These children are given access to a high-quality education, tutoring, counseling, spiritual programs, and more through our HFTF Life Training Center. We have seen these children thrive through this approach to family-based care.
ABOUT OUR NEWEST HOME
At the core of HFTF’s vision is the belief that children belong in FAMILY not institutions. In late 2020, we became aware of an absolutely heartbreaking situation with another local NGO in Addis Ababa. This organization is called Beteseb, which means “family” in Amharic (the language spoken in Ethiopia). For almost ten years, Beteseb has provided two loving homes for twenty children formerly in the government orphanages. Sadly, due to several years of under-funding and international support declining, they were been told by the government that they would need to close. The sad but devastating reality is that without intervention, the twenty children in the two Beteseb homes would be returned to the government orphanages until they age out. These children would be stripped of the only family they’ve ever known, withdrawn from school, and several of them separated from biological siblings. Fortunately through a personal connection, our HFTF director was connected to Beteseb. He was deeply moved by the children’s personal stories and felt compelled to ensure their family could stay together. After looking into their eyes, he knew that HFTF would not stop until we found a solution for these teens. Over a period of nine months, we weighed a handful of options to aid these teens. In the end, we decided to bring the seven boys into Faith House and open Grace House for the ten girls. We believe having them in our group-home setting provides us with the greatest opportunity to impact them in these critical teen years. Our goals are to:
1.) Support them complete their education
2.) Place them for apprenticeship training with local businesses that have established relationships with HFTF
3.) Provide financial stewardship/independence training.
4.) Set up structured mentorship
We have full confidence that by the time each of the teens reaches early adulthood, they will be equipped and mature enough to pursue meaningful work and be reliable and contributing members of their communities. HFTF has identified partners to cover around 60% of this new venture cost. Would you consider making a one time or monthly gift towards Faith or Grace House on behalf of these teens?