It's easy to take teeth for granted. When I was young, my teeth were OK, but in the socioeconomic world of my childhood, dental care was taken seriously and was preventative. In order to prevent future problems, I had braces for awhile and then did the whole retainer process, eventually
transitioning completely out of orthodontics. Now my teeth are great, I guess, nice and straight and all that and no major problems. However, for the kids at the home, the same is not true. They have not had the benefit of growing up in a world where dental care is taken seriously, or where it can even be afforded. That's why these kids usually show up with some collection of rotten, broken teeth; if we are lucky, they are still young enough where they will all fall out anyway and we can start again with a clean slate on their adult teeth. Many of you are probably familiar with Maricel's dental story since coming to the home - her teeth used to be horribly disfigured and not much could be done, but a generous gift was given to fix her teeth, so now she has a prosthetic replacement in the front. That kind act did everything to boost the confidence and personality of a girl who already has enough struggles communicating. Now, our newest "Maricel" is Noel. Noel is a newer member at the home, having come in September 08. We were told at first that he was probably around 7 years old, but there was no definite birthday since he was abandoned at birth. However, we were all very suspicious of that when we met him and saw his teeth. He has huge teeth, and one of his oversized front ones protrudes awkwardly out of his mouth. A recent round of dental check-ups and pictures shows all kinds of other problems in there. It also tells us that he is more like 10 years old. Noel struggles with developmental delay and has received inadequate care for his whole life up until now. We want to change things for him and give him the kind of attention he deserves, especially his teeth. He will need braces, which are cheaper here than in the States, but expensive nonetheless. There is already a children's ministry program from a church in Minnesota ready to start collecting money for Noel. If you are interested in helping as well, please let us know. We would like to get this taken care of as soon as possible for him.
transitioning completely out of orthodontics. Now my teeth are great, I guess, nice and straight and all that and no major problems. However, for the kids at the home, the same is not true. They have not had the benefit of growing up in a world where dental care is taken seriously, or where it can even be afforded. That's why these kids usually show up with some collection of rotten, broken teeth; if we are lucky, they are still young enough where they will all fall out anyway and we can start again with a clean slate on their adult teeth. Many of you are probably familiar with Maricel's dental story since coming to the home - her teeth used to be horribly disfigured and not much could be done, but a generous gift was given to fix her teeth, so now she has a prosthetic replacement in the front. That kind act did everything to boost the confidence and personality of a girl who already has enough struggles communicating. Now, our newest "Maricel" is Noel. Noel is a newer member at the home, having come in September 08. We were told at first that he was probably around 7 years old, but there was no definite birthday since he was abandoned at birth. However, we were all very suspicious of that when we met him and saw his teeth. He has huge teeth, and one of his oversized front ones protrudes awkwardly out of his mouth. A recent round of dental check-ups and pictures shows all kinds of other problems in there. It also tells us that he is more like 10 years old. Noel struggles with developmental delay and has received inadequate care for his whole life up until now. We want to change things for him and give him the kind of attention he deserves, especially his teeth. He will need braces, which are cheaper here than in the States, but expensive nonetheless. There is already a children's ministry program from a church in Minnesota ready to start collecting money for Noel. If you are interested in helping as well, please let us know. We would like to get this taken care of as soon as possible for him.On a separate note, good news out of the legislature here in the Philippines - the president just finally signed into law a bill that has been pushed through the government by the Department of Social Welfare and social workers who want to see the way abandoned kids' cases are handled revised. Up until now, children who were abandoned and in residential care like ours had to go through a whole battery of legal proceedings before being officially declared abandoned by the courts and ready to move on to permanent family placing through adoption. What was designed to be a thorough process to protect the kids and make sure they were not becoming victims of trafficking has turned into a long exhaustive process that ultimately ends up keeping untold numbers of kids stuck in institutions across the Philippines. This new bill successfully takes the responsibility away from the backlogged courts and puts it in the hands of the Department of Social Welfare alone, making the job of processing the kids' cases so much easier for our social workers.
DJ/Rachel
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