A NEW fostering service in Brazil, set up by a Christian charity, has placed its first child with foster parents. The five-year-old boy has been moved into foster care from an overcrowded local government shelter, the charity ReVive said. Their fostering service is the first of its kind in the area of north-eastern Brazil.

ReVive was founded by two of the Church Mission Society’s mission partners, and runs two children’s homes for abused and vulnerable girls in the city of Olinda. It was given permission to launch a fostering service in November 2021 (News, 17 December 2021), and has been running training courses for prospective foster parents. One family has so far passed the selection process to be foster parents, but more are in training.

ReVive’s fostering co-ordinator, Tony Lewry, said: “There are so many vulnerable children in our city who desperately need a safe place to live. Our service will not only offer a safe place, but a family environment which will create the atmosphere each child needs to overcome the challenges life has thrown at them.”

Initially, ReVive aims to be catering for children up to the age of six, but, with experience, the team hope that they can increase the scope of the service they can offer. Mr Lewry said: “Our hope is that by 2030 fostering is the primary form of full-time child-care in the city.”

The first child to be fostered will remain with his foster family until he is adopted or reintegrated back into his biological family.

There are up to 20 children under the age of six in care in Olinda. Currently, fewer than five per cent of children in the care system in Brazil are cared for in foster families, and awareness of fostering is low.

ReVive was set up by CMS mission partners Andy and Rose Roberts, after an encounter with three sisters who were living on the streets of Olinda, having been abandoned by their mother. ReVive’s first home opened in 2014, and 75 girls have been cared for by the charity.