House Parent Substitute Opportunities
World Gospel Outreach is looking for strong Christian married couples or families that are willing to provide short-term respite care for our hard working house parent missionaries in Honduras.
When do you need me?
We have up to six weeks for two families that need covered while they are on furlough this summer 2010. Needs occur each summer and during other times of the year also. We are looking for people available to come for anywhere from two to six weeks. Weeks of coverage are determined by the overall situation.
What are the costs?
In terms of finances, if you were substituting your only costs would be your airline tickets, health insurance (shot term insurance is about $2 per day per person), food for yourselves and exit/airport tax for when you leave (about $37 per person).
Where would we stay?
Our children’s facility, Rancho Ebenezer, is a 100-acre Ranch just outside the capital city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The accommodations are nice. Block homes, safe, 4 bedrooms, gas and electric appliances. Our water is drinkable, from well and chlorinated to industry standards. Plumbing on the ranch is also built to function the same way as it does in the U.S.
What does a typical day look like?
In a typical day as a substitute centers around taking care of the home and supervising children with the help of a house assistant, as needed M-F (house keeping, some cooking and some childcare). It is best to have a schedule of age appropriate activities for younger kids (coloring time, playground time, appropriate video, a hike etc....) during the day. The house assistant can help supervise. Teens have a certain amount of work scheduled as part of our vocational education program, depending on age, up to 30 hours. We can always use supervisors for the vocation education program (no special expertise required) - it requires supervising and/or working with teens. The program is to give them experience in the routines of working, managing money they earn and managing work-type relationships.
Evenings can be spent playing games, watching a video etc. Obviously interactive activities are best but require some creativity. We have a supply of board games. We also have an activity center that is a bit limited in its resources, at the moment. A daytime project could be improving something like that (making some ping-pong tables etc. The more activities you can do the easier the job.
Do I need to speak Spanish?
All of our children receive a bi-lingual education and function well in both Spanish and English. Though speaking Spanish is a plus, it is not required.
Can we bring our kids?
Each of our homes has up to six ministry children. Space is limited but WGO is very open to discussing the possibility of respite families with up to three children, depending on their age and gender.
How often do we leave the Ranch?
Transportation is a bit limited because we are about an hour from the city and we try to minimize fuel and wear and tear costs. There would be transportation to the city for at least one trip per week to buy groceries and spend some time in the city. In addition, a trip on the weekend to church and other activities is provided. Outside of that, we plan and coordinate special events. All in all, travel is a bit limited. Food costs run about the same as in the states. A simple diet saves money.
Is there anything else I need to know?
We are a "treatment community", which means we are trying to accomplish specific goals and address certain characteristics within our population of children. As a result, we supervise them rather closely and limit certain activities and we insist substitutes help us carry out our program by honoring our boundaries. Our goal is to, during their youth and adolescence; prepare our young people for the time they will re-enter the very challenging marketplace and economy here. Our desire is that they lead godly lives, and experience freedom from dysfunctions in their lives so they are unbounded as they employ their God-given abilities and resources to provide for their families and to do so honorably. The stage of life they experience at our ranch is wholesale welfare - which is appropriate, because they are minors and have no one to care for them. However, we want to always think of what will help them prepare to leave welfare behind, as they come of age. We have a long way to go in that but it is what we keep in mind as we develop our program.
So how do we get started?
We have a screening process for respite care workers that involves an application, references, a criminal background check and interview(s). Please email Human Resources for an application.
|
Become A Substitute House Parent
