Imagine a scenario.
You and your family have returned to your home country. You left seeking new opportunity, and you’re confronted again with the reality of what you left behind. Unemployment, lack of resources, economic instability, gang violence, food deserts, and so on.
Now imagine a stranger walks into your home with a clipboard, asking endless intrusive questions about your family. “Do you have a job? Are your children in school? How much money do you make? Can you provide for your kids?”
You answer, and the stranger writes something in their clipboard.
“Wow, they’re writing a lot,” you think.
“They’re still writing…”
“What are they thinking? Are they judging me? Do they know what I’ve been through?”
OK, exercise over. This is obviously a very impersonal, demoralizing situation. Yet, this is how it can feel for migrant families returning to an unstable environment.
Understanding the Story
Often driven by fear, danger, and insecurity, migration is a reality for many families around the globe. While CERI affirms that migration is a human right, we also believe that, where possible, a family’s greatest stability comes from thriving within their own culture and community.
In Guatemala, CERI has been working to provide comprehensive support services to returning migrant families. These are families who deeply cherish their culture and identity but are driven to leave by economic necessity or fear.
Guatemala is part of what’s called the “Northern Triangle of Central America”. This term is used to collectively refer to three Central American countries (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador). In recent decades, millions people have fled the Northern Triangle to escape instability, gang violence, poverty, and other issues. Many end up in the United States. However, this process is not easy, and often leads to families or individuals returning to their home country.
Although returned migrant children and families receive initial reception services, there is a lack of long-term support for families reintegrating into their communities. This is a critical unmet need, and increases the risk of repeat migration across the board.
In response to a direct request from the First Lady of Guatemala, CERI’s Safe and Dignified Return Home (SDRH) initiative aims to meet this need. SDRH will expand CERI’s presence to support more than 300 individuals through case management, strengthened reintegration systems, and targeted capacity building with government counterparts.
These services will allow returning families to rebuild safe, dignified, and stable futures in Guatemala. This is part of a wider goal of empowering communities and economies to thrive where they are.
Strategic Partnerships for Dignity and Excellence
To execute this vision, CERI has cultivated strong, transparent relationships with governmental partners in Guatemala, ensuring our work is integrated and effective. We work hand-in-hand with:
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Secretaría de Bienestar Social (SBS): The Secretary of Social Welfare, which oversees essential child and family protection services.
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Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración (IGM): The Guatemalan Migration Institute, providing coordination for return and reintegration processes.
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Secretaría de Obras Sociales de la Esposa del Presidente (SOSEP): The Social Works Secretariat of the President’s Wife, focusing on social assistance and support.
Our excellence shines through our commitment to these official processes. When a family returns to Guatemala, we collaborate with the government to provide a long-term support system that ensures their return is safe and dignified.
The 10 Domains Methodology: A 360-Degree Solution
Remember the scenario from earlier? The feeling of frustration, confusion, anxiety, fear, and hopelessness? These might be very familiar emotions for these returning families.
To address the unique challenges these families face upon their return, CERI utilizes our 10 Domains Assessment.
This methodology provides a holistic framework for stabilization and growth for each family we serve. This is the key to our family-strengthening program, and it ensures that we look at the entire person and family as a sum of its parts.
The CERI 10 Domains Methodology is a person-centered framework designed to assess and strengthen families. It shifts the focus from intrusive investigations towards building authentic, trust-based, and trauma-informed relationships.
This system looks holistically at a family’s well-being across 10 vital areas, covering essential foundations like positive parenting, mental and physical health, and basic needs. By establishing a genuine connection with the family first, this system builds trust in case workers, and provides the family with dignity, clarity, and a transparent plan of support.
With these 10 Domains, we ensure that anyone who returns to the country receives 360-degree support. This foundation of stability stops the continuous, generational cycle of migration.
Looking Ahead with Hope
Our work in Guatemala is a testament to the fact that strategic solutions based on kindness and excellence can deliver profound hope. We are committed to nurturing strong families and resilient communities in Guatemala. Our goal is that children can grow up safe, stable, and proud of who they are, surrounded by the culture they love.
