Whole Child has just concluded Phase-1 planning for our program in El Salvador during a busy week in San Salvador. The week’s activities included meetings with our evaluators from the University of Pittsburgh and the long-anticipated initial administrative training session for the directors of our first three partner orphanages.

The week started with the planning session, which included the directors of one of the children’s homes, Adalberto Guirola, who helped us fully envision the adaptation of our previous work in Nicaragua for these Salvadoran sites. The directors, both nuns, have been our partners since 2005, when they accompanied Whole Child to the Pikler Institute, our model orphanage in Budapest. They have always been a rich source of input for the real-world application of our methodology, and it was deeply rewarding to begin to see our work realizing itself in the Salvadoran partner orphanages.

By then, Drs. Bob McCall and Chris Groark from the University of Pittsburgh had completed their exhaustive baseline study at Adalberto Guirola and San Vicente de Paul orphanages, and the path was cleared for us to begin work in the first to come online, Adalberto Guirola. The work began by creating a clear roadmap to the establishment of small groups, continuity of care, primary care, and other targeted strategies and methods to improve institutionalized children’s lives.

Administrative Training

The directors and technical team (psychologists, social workers, etc.) of the initial three institutions — Hogar San Vicente de Paul, Hogar Guirola, and CIPI — attended a two-day training introducing our principles and outlining their application in these settings.

The participants were receptive and enthusiastic, and by the end of the second day seemed to have clear visions of the program implemented in their institutions. But, as one of the directors told the Regional Program Manager, Gabriela Serrano, ” I usually go to trainings and leave fine. After this training I have a huge sense of responsibility for all that needs to change.”

Another focused on the need to keep children with consistent caregivers, telling the assembled participants: “I had never felt comfortable changing children from group to group, but had not been able to say it out loud. This proves my gut feeling of keeping children with the same groups.”

The challenge is clear to us all. The next step is to implement.