Children's Crisis Center / Orphanage Philippines
Our Children's Orphanage (known as 'Ruel House') in Calapan, Philippines (about 60 miles from Manila on Oriental Mindoro island) takes orphaned and abandoned children from birth through to approximately 10 years of age.
These children stay with us between 3-6 months and are then returned to their families. Or, in the case of abandoned children, they stay with us until the adoption process is complete and they are placed with their adoptive families.
With the poverty level a serious problem in the Philippines, we are now seeing a greater number of children being brought to our 'children's crisis centre' (Ruel House) in serious physical and emotional distress. Many small children have been cared for by an older brother or sister. Many are simply abandoned and left to die.
Local authorities work hard to address these problems but are seriously under funded and under staffed. The Ruel Foundation works closely with these authorities to help rescue children that are close to death from starvation or abuse. In many cases we just provide milk powder to assist a family in getting a child's weight up, however, in some cases this is not enough. The local health authorities usually ask us to accept the child into our crisis centre until the child is strong enough to return to their family or be placed for adoption. This can take from three months to several years.
When children are accepted into our home, we work hard to provide comfort, dignity and spiritual strength to both the child and immediate family. Families share their deep gratitude for giving their children a chance when no one else would. In most cases, these children recover and become beautiful examples of God's amazing grace and compassion.
We are also accredited with the Philippines Government and ICAB as an orphanage and as such can process children for International and local adoptions.
We regularly welcome volunteers to come and help out with our children's programs and to work alongside existing local staff in caring for the children.