Meet the Team: Madaí
This week our featured staff member is Madaí Hernández. Madaí is one of our social workers, and she is in charge of our Mentor Families program.
At Casa Bernabé, the Mentor Families program is designed to connect some of our kids and teens who do not have biological family connections to a mentor family that can provide stable, safe, and loving relationships. The mentor families come alongside the children in a personal and intentional way, offering support in their emotional, academic, social, and spiritual growth. The goal is to help each child experience individual care and encouragement.
Many of our kids have some members of their biological families still in the picture who can visit them, but for those who don't, the mentor families can fill in the gap. Mentor families visit the kids regularly and often invite them to visit their homes and join them for family events. We hope someday when our kids think about where they might spend holidays, their mentor families can be a resource for them.
Mentor Families are carefully selected by Casa Bernabé’s Social Work and Psychology teams, which assess both the needs of the children and the stability of each potential family. Mentors must be Christian couples, married for at least five years, actively involved in a local church, and residents of Guatemala. After passing background checks and attending specialized training, mentors commit to building consistent, Christ-centered relationships that reflect God’s love and contribute to the child’s healing and hope for the future. We are still in the process of growing this program, and we're excited about the future potential!
Madaí leads this program, and we asked her some questions to help you get to know her:
How many mentor families are there?
Right now we have six mentor families serving eight of our CB kids.
How long have you been working at Casa Bernabé?
A little over three years. I graduated with a degree in social work and came to Casa Bernabé looking for a way to serve.
What other areas do you work in at Casa Bernabé?
I oversee the Mentor Family program, but I also help organize visitation days for the kids, accompany the kids when they have court hearings, and I receive new kids when they first arrive on campus.
What is the hardest part of the job?
The hardest part is having to see and know the context and the situations these kids are coming from. As social workers, we are the only ones here at Casa Bernabé who really know this private information about the kids, and it is a huge responsibility. It can sometimes be an emotional burden to see these kids and know exactly what has happened to them.
What is your favorite part of your job?
It is very hard receiving the kids when they arrive. It almost always results in tears, screaming, and is very traumatic for them. However for me, it brings me joy knowing they are finally here at Casa Bernabé and are no longer in the difficult and dangerous situations that they came from. Knowing they are finally safe and will be taken care of brings me immense peace.
We are children and creations of God, and it is a huge privilege to be able to not only take care of these children, but to show them a new standard of living God has designed for them.