Haiti pushes foster homes

ROSE Boncoeur brought two emaciated little girls to live in her modest home in Haiti as part of a reform drive aimed at keeping children out of orphanages.

“People often asked me if I am crazy,” said Boncoeur, whose name means “good heart.”

The government of the Americas’ poorest country is pushing to deinstitutionalize children so as to avoid the darkest sides of orphanage life -- trafficking of kids or even worse abuse.

So far, 120 homes in Haiti have opened their doors to children with nowhere else to go.

Boncoeur gets no financial help to feed or clothe her two charges, and is forced to ask people for used clothing for her foster children -- sisters, aged eight months and three years.

“Some people do not understand that I spend money on children who are not mine,” said Boncoeur, who is proud that her biological daughter treats those girls like siblings.