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Children with disabilities are estimated to make up one-third of all orphans and children living in foster care around the world. (Christian Alliance for Orphans). Many of these children have one living parent but have been placed in an institution, often due to a lack of resources to care for a child with disabilities.

WWO Latin America is riding the wave of increased participation and rapid growth after having 257 participants from 21 counties in the Region attend the Roadmap Forum which was held in May this year. Maria de la Zabala (Pachi), WWO Regional Ambassador for Latin America, is astounded by the growth in the region in the last two years.

The tide of mothers, social workers, teachers, and church leaders equipped and ready to help more children keeps rising in Pune, India following recent training. The WWO Roadmap training that was held globally in May as a hybrid of virtual and in-person training resulted in abundant requests from women leaders asking for better ways to improve the lives of the children they work with daily.

Recently, 54 leaders from seven African nations met at a WWO national roundtable and Africa Regional gathering held in Kigali, Rwanda. The roundtable provided a platform for multi-generational leaders to build upon the success they have already had in placing children in family-based care.

WWO Hope groups are impacting lives in 19 countries around the world now. What started as an outreach to Ukrainian women displaced by the Russian invasion of their country in 2022, soon spread to the Hope group team training and mentoring 300 program managers and facilitators. In turn, those leaders have implemented Hope Groups for 4,097 caregivers, who care for an estimated 9,006 children.