Toybox - let the Street Children live!
Take a tour
Toybox supports specialist, indigenous teams for the rescue, restoration and reintegration of street children in Latin America. On this page you can take a tour of our work. If you have broadband, you can also watch an on-line video of the work of Toybox
1) Street teams
Teams search out the most vulnerable children, seeking those in most need, to offer friendship, food and first aid. Sometimes the children can be invited straight away to a safe place to stay. At other times, they need a period of rehabilitation in a hostel.
2) Day Centres
Street children are invited to come for nutritious foodl, showers, clean clothes, counselling and to learn a trade or to learn to read and write. This can be the first step to a life off the streets. Sometimes children can be reunited with their family, having left home after a misunderstanding.
3) Hostel or Refuge
Children make a complete break from the streets when they join a hostel, leaving behind any drugs and destructive relationships from the streets. The refuge provides a haven for those needing stort-term crisis care, for example, if their life is threatened by a gang when they decide to leave the gang because of its violence.
4) Homes
Here the children not only find a home but a new family with a 'mum' and 'dad' and up to around 12 brothers or sisters. They also have help from teachers, psychologists and social workers as they continue to deal with issues from their traumatic past as they build a future.
5) School
Former street children and children at high risk are supported in going to school, often for the first time, or to study to learn a trade. The charity supports many educational projects with high risk children and also a state-registered school in Guatemala.
6) Society Reintegration
When they are ready, children are supported through the process of leaving the home to reintegrate in the community, with sheltered accommodation and regular visits. It is hoped that they will always feel they are 'part of the family.'
7) High Risk Teams
Prevention is better than cure. Dedicated teams of social workers and teachers, supported by a psychologist, identify children most at risk in the poorest areas and work to help prevent them becoming street children. They run street schools and tackle urgent social issues and work with communities to help bring hope.Our Red Alert project with partner Red Viva in Cochabamba is an exciting city-wide intiative to identify and get help to the most vulnerable children so they don't become street children.