When children arrive at Stairway fresh from the streets, they are eager to get started with rebuilding their lives. They have many positive rehabilitation experiences, in which their physical and socio-emotional needs are being met. They enjoy cleaner and healthier surroundings and they are able to eat and sleep well. They enjoy the happy, family-like atmosphere. They learn the pleasure of working and being useful to others. They like the new experiences of being able to study in order to prepare for a job in the future, and they enjoy the many creative and recreational activities held in the center. With their physical and emotional needs satisfied, behavioral changes occur. They give up the habits of stealing and sniffing glue.

The positive experiences and the personal development of the children reflect in their views of their home lives. They are apt to fantasize about having a harmonious and happy family relationship. They often experience feelings of sadness and loneliness and they long to be with their families again. To meet their needs we allow those who have a home of some description to go on a home visit, after they have been in the program for at least six months. In preparation for the home visits, we equip the children with cameras so they can capture their world in pictures. With the photographs, the children are likely to share significant details about their past.

The actual home visit usually dissolves the wishful fantasy of a harmonious family life. They are hit with the reality of dilapidated houses, floods, rickety bridges, cramped spaces, vile stenches, incessant noises, abusive fathers, monotonous boredom, no water, no sanitation, malnutrition, disease, and despair. Problems arise and they get into conflicts. Many resort back to the streets. Back to their old vices and habits. Disillusioned, they return to Stairway. Having faced the reality of their home-life situation, they are ready to go into the next phase of the rehabilitation process, which is learning to make healthy decisions about themselves and their future.

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