Hagar Partners with A21 to Provide Foster Care for Child Victims of Human Trafficking in Cambodia
May 21, 2024 – Hagar has just signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to extend our partnership with A21 in Cambodia.
Hagar’s partnership with A21 began in Cambodia in May 2022. A21 is a global anti-trafficking organization with programmes in 14 countries. Hagar and A21’s partnership in Cambodia works to provide foster care for trafficked children in the country. Through Hagar’s partnership with A21, Hagar’s frontline team helps A21 identify, assess, and train community-based foster families to care for trafficked, enslaved, and abused children.
In Cambodia, 50% of A21’s caseload of minors are trafficked by their own family members.
Through Hagar and A21’s partnership, more young survivors will receive care in community and family-based environments, empowering them to thrive and flourish.
Twenty years ago, Hagar pioneered community-based foster care in Cambodia. The program was launched in 2004 to support the social reintegration of trafficked women and girls from Hagar’s residential shelters. In 2007, Hagar and World Vision Cambodia published “The Road Home“, survivor-informed research to develop a model of reintegration and alternative care for children trafficked for sexual exploitation in the country.
Today, Hagar’s foster care program has expanded to a community-based model of care. Children who have been trafficked and exploited by their own loved ones receive professional care and support in the warmth and safety of a family that has been vetted by Hagar. Learn more about Hagar’s survivor care programs, or about our work in Cambodia.
