The number of abandoned children in northern Syria has skyrocketed due to the continued instability and high cost of living in this war-torn country.
As many parents abandon their children on the street in the hope that someone will take care of them, there are more and more such children.
Children's Homes is the only NGO in northern Syria dedicated to providing homes for these children.
It provides education, recreation, shelter and food for abandoned children and enables families to care for them and live with them. The group also helps find the child's biological parents.
Yunis Abu Amin, head of the group's management team, said the centre housed about 50 children with unknown and homeless parents.
An average of four children arrive at the centre each month, he said.
The shelter department is dedicated to providing children with basic services, including food, drink and sleeping places.
There is also a psychological support department and an education department through which management provides children with entertainment and counselling on general issues.
Abu Amin added that after the children received these services, the center began the process of family reunification in an attempt to find the child's real family.
If the family is not found, the center looks for other relatives, and if it cannot, it looks for another foster family already registered with the center to adopt the children. The adopted child is then reviewed on the basis of the specific circumstances of the child.
One of the children said: "I have lived in this centre for about a year and six months and I don't know any information about my parents. I met many friends here whose situation was similar to mine and who didn't know their own family. I hope they can find their own family. ”
The center recently received news that his father lives in Turkey, but he was unable to find him because the Syrian-Turkish border has been closed.
He said: "I hope someone can help me find my father. ”
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Adel Haman, from Kafholm Village, a western village in Idlib, said he adopted a child at the centre after discovering his infertility.
He said: "My wife and I have been trying to adopt a child for years because I did a lot of tests and it turned out I was unable to have children. ”
"I then adopted the child through the centre and I am very happy with this decision. He's going to fill our house, and I hope to raise him in a good way. ”
"If Allah bless my other children after him, I won't be any different from them. He was the first joy I had waited for 20 years. I will give him a lot of love and affection. ”
"If one day he finds his family and wants to see them, it will be a very difficult feeling. I will be very sad. ”