Restavek Freedom Foundation

MISSION: Restavek Freedom is singularly focused on an audacious mission: ending child slavery in Haiti in our lifetime. It works at the grassroots level with likeminded churches, schools, Haitian community partners, child welfare authorities, and others who seek to replace the restavek system of child domestic slavery with community-based support for vulnerable children. 

SERVING OUR COMMUNITY: Restavek Freedom acts to protect children now, while focusing on eliminating the conditions that put children at risk in the first place. It returns children to their parents when possible and safe. When not, Child Advocates protect children in restavek by mentoring them and advocating with host families to transform the child-host relationship from slavery to one of fostering and support. The children finally go to school with all costs paid and with peer group support from the other children in our program.

Restavek Freedom guides communities – and supporters! – in actions that eliminate child slavery. Communities and neighbors learn to recognize when a child is enslaved and how to step in. It builds primary schools for areas where parents must send their children away because no schools exist. Learning Centers teach income-generating skills to at-risk parents and youth. Masonry, plumbing, IT, and English are among the in-demand skills taught so that families can support their children themselves rather than send them away.