Successes

We are reforming a juvenile detention center that is neglecting and abusing its wards. The children were being starved and tortured. They weren’t being given due process or an education. We are educating groups and citizens in the region surrounding the center, rallying support and organizations to apply pressure and make the changes in the center. So far, we are seeing some improvements in living conditions and education.

A father came to us for help in his divorce/custody issue. He was involved with a Father’s Rights group and thinking about going to Family Court because his ex-wife wasn't honoring the custody agreement. He wanted our help navigating family court, but we work with people to avoid the corruption of Family Court by helping them to resolve their issues first. The father was a great man who truly wanted the best for his 8 year old. He did what we advised, avoided family court, and recently enjoyed a happy, stress-free visit with his little girl that worked for all parties involved.

We got a call about a 13 year old girl being severely abused by her uncle. The child was living with relatives while her parents worked out of town. We got the authorities involved, contacted the parents, and had the uncle put away. The parents didn’t know what was happening to their child. They came back, moved her back to the city with them, and the child is now recovering.

In Africa, child slave labor is a big problem. Because children are viable wage earners for a family and parents have to pay for an education, we get many reports of child slave labor. The work to extract a child from slave labor is laborious. So far, we've saved 2 children and put them in school.

We received a report of 3 neglected children, 2, 4, and 7 years old, abandoned by their father after their mom died of AIDS. Working with authorities and relatives, we found the father, got him to provide monthly support, and found a new home for the 3 children with their aunt. All 3 children are healthy again, gaining weight and happy to be living with their aunt. One of the three children is of school age and is now in school.

Rainbird got a message from a neighbor about a malnourished 10 year old boy who stayed at her home for 2 days because his father beat and starved him. With the help of the local child welfare office, we spoke with the father and mother about the abuse and laid out the consequences. We said we would follow up weekly and file a case with authorities if it happened again. The father promised to stop and we monitor weekly to make sure he does.

When one of our volunteers reported the violent physical abuse of a 5 year old girl whose mother was abusing her, we intervened and with the help of this Rainbird Volunteer who is also the child's teacher, we worked with the mother to develop her parenting skills. The child is now a happy, healthy, flourishing little girl.

We found a 10 year old boy living on the streets who’d been there since Christmas 2015. He was filthy, malnourished, and sick with fever. He had one t-shirt and shorts in rags. He begged for food and money from people who passed. His bed was an improvised pile of magazines, newspapers, and cartons with extra newspaper for a blanket. He bathed when it rained but had no clothes to change into. Rainbird intervened and while we worked to locate his family, we got him medical care, gave him a warm bed, nutritious food, new clothes, and tutoring. Because he never went to school, we began daily tutoring to catch him up to the other children his age. We found his family, learned his parents had died and that his brother had abused him, applied for government aid, found another family member to take him in, and began the process of getting him home. He is now well and has gained weight. He sleeps through the night, bathes daily, has new clothing, and is making friends in the neighborhood. His Aid should start in January, at which point we will take him to his sister and enroll him in school. He can now identify numbers, colors, shapes, vowels, and the alphabet. We have a long way to go, but he has made exceptional progress and we’re confident that he’ll be able to finally go to school.

When we learned about the rape of a 15 year old girl, we intervened because no one was doing anything about it. The rape ended up in a pregnancy. There was no option for abortion and the ``father`` refused to take responsibility. We helped the child after she gave birth to a sickly baby and we are now taking legal action to insure the “father” takes legal and financial responsibility for his child.

A report came from a neighbor who saw a 3 year old boy being starved to near-death by his father. We visited the home, alerted the mother who didn't live with the father, and got the boy into her care. We’re now monitoring his recovery to make sure he gets his basic needs and recovers fully.

In June, 2013, a father with a history of violence and a police record took his 5-year old son for vacation visitation. A week before he was scheduled to bring the boy home to the mother - who had sole custody - the father told the mother she would never see her son again. The father went on the run and the mother spent the next two years searching across the U.S. for her son. The police and courts in three states refused to help her. At the end of her rope, she called us. For the next two weeks we worked with her and on September 29, 2015, she found her son. Scared to death and out of money, she borrowed $1,800 for two tickets, a rental car, and two nights in a motel. On October 8th, she flew to California and on October 9th, after being denied a police escort to help get her son, she went to the school alone, picked up her boy, and flew home. The process was terrifying, but the now 7-year old boy is home, back in school, and settling in with his family.

Three children, ages 2, 4, and 7, were deserted by their father. We worked with leaders in the community to get the father court-mandated to care for them. As a result, all three are taken care of and 2 are in school.

A couple came to us for help to find their 3 children and get them back. The children, ages 9, 13, & 19, were lost in war-torn Kenya. We found the children and tried to work with larger organizations to get them back, but after months of the larger organization telling us to be patient and wait, we got tired of waiting and went in alone. Two weeks ago, we got the children out of Kenya and re-united them with their parents in Uganda after a 4 year separation. They’re getting medical care, returning to school, and getting readjusted to family life.

A concerned citizen contacted Rainbird about a 15 year old boy being physically abused by his stepfather when the man got drunk, which was a constant. With the help of community leaders, we investigated and told the stepfather to stop or we would report him. We explained the laws and the rights of the boy, and got a local authority assigned to this case. We are in the process of having them get the father into a program for alcoholics and we continue to do weekly follow-ups.

We were contacted by a 13 year old boy, who was being stalked by a man on facebook. The man flirted with the boy and asked him to send nude photos and meet. The boy met him in a public place to tell him he wasn't interested and blocked him on Facebook, but the man stalked him and offered him money for sex. We met with the boy, got the man’s contact info, and sent a formal communication to him to stop stalking the boy. We explained the boy’s rights and that this was a form of child abuse, punishable by law. No one has heard from the man since, and the boy knows how to reach us if he is ever accosted by any adult ever again.

After over a year of discussion, our team found a way to make it possible for anyone on earth to save children in any situation. Currently in development, we look forward to unveiling it and making it available soon!

A grandmother came to our leader in Uganda and told him that her grandchild and 4 other girls, ages 13 - 15, had been kidnapped by a nightclub bouncer. The girls were drugged and forced into prostitution. The woman had gone to law enforcement but they refused to help. We took her case on and went to the Chairman and police. We reported the case and joined forces to save the girls. The police charged the nightclub bouncer with defilement and we saved the 5 girls, got them counseling, and back into school. They are now all home with their families.

We were contacted about a 7 year old girl who was left with grandparents when she was 1 yr old. The grandparents tried to contact the child’s parents to get help with her needs. We went to see the parents to explain the laws, but couldn't find them. We recently received a lead on their whereabouts and we’re coordinating with the authorities a neglect case against them. We will continue weekly follow-ups.

A neighbor reported a 10 year boy forced into labor by his mother to sell candy in the street every day. The money went to his mother for food and household needs. We met with his mother, told her the risks to her son on the street and that this was child abuse, penalized by law. He is now back in school and no longer works on the streets. Teachers are helping him catch up and giving him school supplies.

After learning of a sexual offender employed by the university, we demanded an investigation and the man was terminated. We asked the school how they could hire a sexual offender and we found out that they didn’t do background checks on anyone but full-time employees. There is now a new hiring policy: all interns, part-time employees, full-time employees, volunteers, and independent contractors must get a background check before they are hired.

We have joined the Outreach Program for children, giving school supplies to indigent children, victims of abuse, and victims of the insurgency in the Philippines. We have radio partners plugging our mission to end child abuse on the LIPS 106FM, VIRGIN RADIO 95.3 and the Light & Life Radio. These radio stations have interviewed Rainbird Philippines on cases and child related issues. We have also been in the local news of MEDIANETNEWS and CENTRO NEWSPAPER

In our new scholarship program, ten scholarships have been granted in Africa. This kept children off the streets and out of slave labor and sex trafficking!

A 3 year old Missouri girl was being abused. On multiple occasions, family and neighbors called The Division of Family Services (DFS) and the police who did nothing to save this child even after she was taken to ER. In a fit of frustration, the family called us. We told them to tell DFS we were involved and that we would take this issue to the streets if they didn’t save this child. DFS asked them to NOT contact us and promised to save the child. True to their word, DFS called the child’s extended family. The child was pulled out of harm’s way by nightfall and the abuser was incarcerated.

We started here August 2012. After almost two years of campaigning here in the Philippines, we have reached almost 2000 people who took a stand for the end and are still growing.

A 14 year old boy in Illinois was abused multiple times. Child Protective Services knew about him and did nothing. When the boy molested other children, CPS wanted to imprison him without therapy. One of our leaders got involved and called Illinois’ CPS. After years of his family getting nowhere with CPS, our leader got this boy the help he needed.

In November 2010, we found out about this disgusting book. In response, we created a campaign to get hundreds of people to call and email Amazon, demanding that they get rid of this book. At first, they resisted, but within twenty four hours, the media found out about it and within the week, Amazon took the book off the market.