War in Ukraine leaves millions displaced
Show
Smiling staff

Influencing the Leaders of Tomorrow

This month, Children’s Emergency Relief International’s (CERI) Executive Director, Dr. Dearing Garner, spoke as part of a panel addressing the issue of international health and human services for a group of students in the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work.

“Our goal is to promote awareness about international social work through experienced professionals like Dearing so students can have a better idea of how they too can practice social work internationally,” said Jennifer Connatser, Co-Vice President of Students for Advancement of International Social Work (SAISW).

Garner presented on the mission of CERI, the overseas division of BCFS, and the overarching goal of the organization: caring for vulnerable children and families around the world. He specifically spoke about the roles that Orphan & Vulnerable Children (OVC) psychosocial work, foster care, child protection, and orphan and transitional care play in CERI’s work overseas.

Garner showed photographs of the faces of those CERI has helped through its international programs, and discussed how the organization’s dedicated national staff, donors, grants, churches and volunteers make the work possible. He also talked about the challenges that come with international social work, including the unfamiliarity of the industry in many countries.

“The only way to overcome the challenges we experience in changing the face of social work in other countries and ultimately helping hurting families and children is continued training of our national workers and beneficiaries and challenging the universities and governments of countries that we work in to embrace and implement social work systems and practices,” said Garner. “It will be this future generation who continues the work long after we’re gone.”

As an example, as part of Moldova’s efforts to move the country closer to joining the European Union and as Eastern European governments, in general, are working to downsize the number of children placed in antiquated orphanages and moving toward family-type homes, CERI’s Dr. Jon Meyer, an American, is playing a key role in the standardization of the social work profession. Meyer has been serving as the government’s senior advisor to determine national guidelines for social workers as well as a professional supervision mechanism for the approximately 1,000 newly hired government social workers.

Latest Posts

One year in: Helping Ukrainian refugees rebuild their lives

February 28, 2023

 • 

One year ago, the Petrenko family fled Ukraine after the war broke out leaving Artem and his three children displaced in neighboring Moldova.

Speech therapy changes boy’s life

December 5, 2022

 • 

Anton has a speech and language delay, which has affected his ability to learn to read and connect with friends. Living in a rural area left Anton without the speech therapy services he needed.

Sports lift thousands in Sri Lanka

November 18, 2022

 • 

In Kokkaddicholai, Sri Lanka, the community gathers excitedly around their new tennis and basketball courts and watch their children play there for the first time.
X