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ABLE

ABLE

Supporting children and adults with disabilities to thrive in families.

20 articles
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A Difficult Year, A Hopeful Future

Read CIF’s 2024 Annual Impact Report. Despite global crises and funding challenges, we strengthened partnerships, expanded OSCaR, and saw 250% growth in donor giving. CIF’s 2024 Annual Impact Report reflects a year of resilience and transformation. Despite financial challenges, donor losses, and global crises, CIF remained steadfast in its mission to keep children safe in families. The report highlights strengthened government partnerships, expanded use of our OSCaR case management system, and a 250% increase in individual giving. Alongside key data, we share powerful stories of change made possible through your support.

CiFChildren in Families2025-08-194 min read
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We Are Thankful

Thankful This month, I asked around the office, “What are you thankful for?” A few of our staff wanted to share their thoughts with you. We are thankful for your incredible continued support over the years and desire to learn more about family-based care. Through your generosity, Cambodian families are strengthened and held together, in…

CiFChildren in Families2024-11-172 min read
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Learning to Walk and Run – Newsletter May 2024

The May 2024 newsletter from Children in Families highlights several key updates and events. It announces the upcoming release of the book “Where They Belong,” which details the organization’s history and the importance of family-based care. The newsletter also shares Navy’s inspiring story of receiving a new prosthetic leg, recaps the World Without Orphans Conference, and acknowledges a fundraising effort by Somerset Norodom Phnom Penh ASCOTT. These stories underscore CIF’s commitment to supporting vulnerable children and families.

CiFChildren in Families2024-06-013 min read
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Mid-Year Report and Photo Essay

CIF has spent the first half of the year restructuring our programs and has been developing and implementing our standard operating procedures, which are expected to be effective and better serve our clients in terms of support services and co-case management from the local authorities and NGO partners.

CiFChildren in Families2023-07-134 min read
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Bridget: Assisting ABLE to help children with Autism thrive

Our ABLE team are continually learning and innovating as they seek to support children with disabilities to reach their fullest potential while being fostered or cared for in communities. Each family who cares for a child is an advocate for their child and disability care in their neighborhood. And each day our ABLE team are…

CiFChildren in Families2019-05-094 min read
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Full Transcript: “Promoting Inclusion in Family-Based Care”

*The following is the speech Sreyny Sorn, manager of the ABLE Project at Children in Families, gave at a side event at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 5 March, 2019. The event was titled “Promoting Quality Family and Community-Based Care for Children with Disabilities.”* One of the agencies helping to organise…

CiFChildren in Families2019-03-065 min read
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International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Children In Families (CIF) is celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities today! The theme for 2018 is “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.” Children In Families’ ABLE Project is right in step with this objective. It’s even in our name. ABLE stands for “Accepted, Belonging, Loved, Empowered.”

CiFChildren in Families2018-12-032 min read
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Wrapping up the GlobalGiving Campaign: The Gift that keeps on Giving

Children in Families (CIF) ABLE Project – our project supporting children with disabilities and the families caring for them – was recently featured in CIF’s GlobalGiving Accelerator Campaign. GlobalGiving is the largest global crowdfunding community for NGOs and charities. We had three weeks to raise at least $5000 from at least 40 donors. If we were successful,…

CiFChildren in Families2018-10-185 min read
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Friendship: A Passion for Children With Disabilities

Two Children in Families’ staff share their “messy” start to a deep and beautiful friendship. A motorbike, carrying a petite Khmer driver and her American passenger, was being carefully navigated down the dirt road toward the home of a local family. Recent rainfall rendered the road muddy and rutted. Suddenly, the driver struggled to maintain…

CiFChildren in Families2018-07-318 min read
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Celebrating Purple Day: A Child’s experience of Epilepsy in Cambodia

Sreypich and her foster family greet us with smiles as we ride our motos into their front yard. Today our ABLE staff have come for a visit to see how Sreypich is going. Sreypich has epilepsy and over the last seven months, ABLE has been working with her foster family to ensure that she is…

CiFChildren in Families2018-03-233 min read
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You Know My Name: The Journey to Belonging

Last month we introduced you to Courtney, one of our ABLE Technical advisers. This month she reflects on her experience of accompanying one of our ABLE children to a medical appointment. We arrive at the hospital and wander around the massive grounds until we find the pediatric therapy center. Long is a high-energy 12 year-old…

CiFChildren in Families2017-10-133 min read
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A chat with Courtney: How Occupational Therapy in making a difference in ABLE

“So why did you end up volunteering for our ABLE program?” Courtney, the newest member of the ABLE team, pauses for a brief moment before she answers: “What impressed me most about the ABLE program was not only the excellence of the work they are doing, but their dedication to contextualize therapy and treatments for…

CiFChildren in Families2017-09-064 min read
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Learning to stand on his own two feet: A day in the life of ABLE

The air is cool, much cooler than expected in July. We are on a tuktuk, heading out to the Cambodian school of Prosthetics and Orthotics. We have a follow up appointment for one of our foster care children, Leak (pronounced Lay-ak). Like many of our foster care and kinship care cases, Leak has special needs,…

CiFChildren in Families2017-08-175 min read
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The ABLE Program and the Staff Who Make It Happen

We would like to introduce you to the staff who work in our ABLE program. Meet Lisa. She is a Physical Therapist, and has worked at CIF for the past four years. Her time here has seen the beginning and growth of the ABLE program. She now serves as a technical adviser to our Khmer staff. ABLE ABLE…

CiFChildren in Families2017-01-063 min read
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From Lonely Orphan to Loved Son

From birth to five-years-old, Sam Ang, a blind child, lived in an orphanage, suffering developmental delays and self-harm due to trauma. When CIF placed him with a foster family, he was incapable of eating or talking. Within a year, all that changed. Watch his video to learn how the love of community and family drastically…

CiFChildren in Families2016-06-211 min read
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Rithy* and Hope for Children with Disabilities

As Children in Families (CIF) grows we hope to never lose focus on what really matters – each individual. Recently one of our Kinship and ABLE program families offered to give our readers a glimpse into their life. We are excited to share Rithy’s* (name changed) story as a snapshot of how there really can be…

CiFChildren in Families2016-03-097 min read
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ABLE Program Evaluation – What do You Think?

The ABLE Program Evaluation “Tell us what you think!” That is what we said to 16 CIF foster and kinship care families caring for children with special needs when we invited them to participate in focus groups as part of our recent ABLE Program evaluation. The best way to know if what you’re doing is…

CiFChildren in Families2015-12-087 min read
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How a Funeral Taught us to Celebrate Life

The Value of a Human Life How do you determine the value of a human life? For those of us with a Biblical worldview, of course, the answer is clear. Every human being is precious, having infinite value, on the basis of having been made in the very image of the Creator. This inherent worth…

CiFChildren in Families2015-07-174 min read
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One Family’s Story

Sam* was received by Children In Families and placed into a foster family at the age of four. He had been rescued from a situation of abuse and severe neglect. When Children In Families stepped in to help, Sam was withdrawn and extremely isolated. He used no words to communicate, was very afraid of people,…

CiFChildren in Families2013-09-122 min read
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Srey Ny – Physiotherapist for ABLE

My name is Srey Ny. I am a physiotherapist and I work with Children In Family’s ABLE program. Before I came to work at CIF I had worked for another organization called Banteay Prieb. Through that organization I worked with many people with disabilities in a village setting, so it was good preparation for my work…

CiFChildren in Families2013-08-152 min read