The Orphanage - Facts

• CDV, 12 year old Foundation started by Hilda Pacheco-Taylor
• There are 50 orphanages in Baja, Mexico.
• Sizes of orphanage: 20-140 children (average 75)
• Average age of kids depend on location. Tijuana kids are younger because they run away from home in their mid-to-early teens. Ensenada kids tend to stay longer or until they are older (maybe fewer distractions, drugs, etc.)
• Most kids have parents or a parent still alive, even though they are in an orphanage. They end up there because either Mom & Dad have passed away, or:
  • Mom is a prostitute and Dad is missing
  • Mom and Dad are on drugs
  • Mom and Dad jumped the border
  • Mom & Dad cannot afford to keep them
• Adoptions
  • Hard to adopt out of Mexico because Mexican nationals get first priority
  • You have to adopt all siblings together and most families have three or more kids
  • Have to get closest relative to sign off that kids can be adopted but parent cannot be found
• Orphanages are most often started by families who take kids in off the street. This process often begins with extended family members (someone takes in their sisters kids, then a few more, then a few more). Sometimes pastors or churches begin orphanages. There are no government funds to help orphanages
• DIF (Department of Infants & Children) is the government agency that oversees the orphanages, but only provides real regulations against abuse. They can cause a home to shut down if it is unsafe, but they cannot force a home to take children in. The Mexican government does not provide any funding for the orphanages.
• Why not canned goods, toys and clothes?
  • It’s tough to feed 100 kids with canned goods
  • Hard to get across the border (everything is!)
  • Churches typically give toys and clothes so that orphanages have clothes but no food
• CDV never gives money directly to anyone. We pay the bills for the orphanages directly to the vendor (e.g. Costco). CDV provides assistance for clean water, nutritious food and helps keep the utilities on.
• Don’t let a nice looking orphanage fool you! Clean buildings and a lot of land does not mean that they eat well and that their electricity doesn’t get cut off. It means church groups come in the summer and build. Nice home – hungry kids.