the chuenchums in2023thailand year in review SPRITE & KRISTEN CHUENCHUM SERVING FAMILIES & CHILDREN ACROSS THAILAND WITH THE CAUSE & STEP AHEAD
Dear friends & family, 2023 has been one of the most exciting, blessed, miraculous, challenging, transformative years of our lives. In February, we participated in a National Conference for Alternative Care where the Thai government launched a roadmap for transitioning the country away from residential-based care to family-based care. In April, we finished the Family Strengthening Handbook, had it translated to Thai and printed 1,000 copies. In June, we trained 30+ professionals in a TOT of the Family Strengthening Handbook. In July, Asher David Chuenchum was born. In September, we continued training people in how to strengthen families. And in November, we moved into our new home. Like we said, it has been a YEAR! And NONE of it would have been possible without you. You are a treasured part of our team, our village, our lives. And we’re honored to have you along for the journey. Thank you for making 2023 so fantastic. Here’s to 2024 and the hope of what we can do when we work together to improve the lives of children by strengthening their families.
Love, The Chuenchums
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2023 highlights
january
february
march
april
may
june
We started off the year with a lot of planning and prepping. Our Step Ahead team wrote yearly strategic plans and we prepared for the BIG National Conference in February. Sprite started the year in a new role at Step Ahead focused on training the Family Strengthening Handbook all across the country.
In February, Step Ahead along with our partners and the Thai government hosted a major National Conference with over 150 government officials from across the country. During that conference, the Department of Children and Youth launched a roadmap of change for the entire country. They committed themselves to transitioning Thailand from a country very reliant on orphanages to a country that will do everything they can to make sure children stay in families.
january
february
In March, we traveled to Chiang Mai for a week of meetings with various NGOs, orphanages, and government officials who put their heads together to come up with how to implement the government’s new roadmap in their context. Chiang Mai is home to the most children’s homes in the country and has a huge task ahead of them if they are going to transition their care system. Sprite traveled with the Pilot Project Team to Isaan Province for a week of trainings with the government shelters who will pilot the government’s process of transitioning their system away from residential care.
Sprite spent many many many hours in April retranslating the Family Strengthening Handbook into Thai. He then did a “soft launch” of the completed version at a UNICEF event highlighting the need for family strengthening in the country. Sprite also traveled to Isaan again for a 2-day training for the government shelter staff overviewing how the transition they’re embarking on will work.
march
april
In May, Sprite completed the Thai translation of the Family Strengthening Handbook (whew!) and we had the honor of getting it edited by some of the most revered and respected women in this line of social work. Getting their stamp of approval and advocating for how the country of Thailand needs this resource was one of the highlights for us in this whole long process. At the end of May, we put on a HUGE 5 day Trainer of Trainers (TOT) in Thai to 35 professionals from across the country in how to use and train others in the Family Strengthening Handbook. Again, another career highlight for us seeing this project come to fruition!
may
In June we were able to print 1,000 copies of the FSH in English and Thai - seeing the physical manifestation of the hours and hours we both put into this project! At Step Ahead we helped host a Community Resource Mapping event with local leaders of the community in which we do KFT. It was great to hear from those on the ground the kinds of struggles they’re seeing families face in the year after Covid.
june
july
august
september
october
november
december
Asher David Chuenchum was born! Kristen’s parents flew to Thailand for the month of July to help us take care of Asher. It was a tumultuous month as Asher got sick with RSV at only 2 weeks old. He spent 6 nights in the hospital but recovered with the help of angel nurses and doctors. We were grateful for the extra set of hands and support from Kristen’s parents.
In August, Sprite returned from paternity leave to host a Families First Alliance (FFA) Webinar. We formed this group awhile back to provide support and community to those doing the hard work of family strengthening across the country. The group has since expanded! To start back up again Sprite introduced the group to the FSH and shared the importance of family strengthening in tackling the “orphanage crisis” going on here in Thailand.
july
august
In September, while we were on maternity and paternity leave, we saw the TOTers of the FSH explode in excitement over the FSH training. Many of those we trained in June trained their own staff in how to use the FSH in their work throughout the fall. Through these TOTers, the handbook expanded rapidly across the country and is now being used in at least 5 different organizations.
In October, Sprite joined our partner TOTers in Chiang Mai to host another FSH training for 30 participants. Chiang Mai is an epicenter for orphanages in Thailand and the more people we can get strengthening families in this province, the better. In October we also hosted another Families First Alliance webinar on an Introduction to Trauma Informed Care - a topic necessary to family strengthening practitioners.
september
october
We moved!!! After a long and windy road of purchasing a home here in Thailand, we were finally able to move in November. We packed up our tiny apartment and drove two hours east to Rayong province where we are now settled in our brand new home. YOU all made this move possible. YOU all made Thailand our home. We are delighted to grow our roots down in this country as we continue to seek ways to serve children and families across the country.
In December, we attended Step Ahead’s staff retreat and had a chance to re-vision and plan for 2024. Sprite made one last trip of the year to Isaan for the Pilot Project in which they hosted a 5 day public forum event with leaders from various sectors of society that might be effected by the transition of children back to families/communities. We also traveled to the US for Asher’s first Christmas - much to “Mor Mor” and “Papa”’s delight! We finished the year surrounded by family and dreaming of what 2024 could bring.
november
december
no small thing
2023
best parts of
OMF PASTORS We’ve shared throughout the year the honor and privilege it is to get to work with a small group of OMF pastors in implementing the Keeping Families Together (KFT) program in their churches and communities. They received training in starting a KFT program last year and have since committed to coaching sessions with Kristen every 2 months. Together we work through the curriculum (18 months of teaching and coaching is A LOT), build necessary skills for implementation, and troubleshoot any obstacles that come up as they begin using the curriculum with families. We have been blown away by their faithfulness, dedication, and heart for families in their communities. We have held special sessions this year as they have requested it to walk them through various processes like how to connect their families to the government’s welfare or how to help families write a budget. It has been one of our highlights of 2023 to watch them wrestle with their own “Savior complex” and work hard to come alongside the poor in their contexts as equals and in humility. They have encountered some major obstacles but are determined to strengthen families in practical ways - all while sharing God’s love in thought, word, and deed. We are so proud of their progress and their Kingdom impact here in Thailand! It is such an honor to be with them on their journey as they venture outside the walls of the church and sit with caregivers and families who are poor, marginalized, and struggling. This is where we believe the Church should be! Praise God for their willingness to be used by God in these arenas. Pray for them as they continue their journey into 2024 - we have 4 more coaching sessions to cover the rest of the KFT curriculum.
GOVERNMENT PILOT PROJECT Another major highlight from 2023 has been the Government Pilot Project Step Ahead has been a part of in Isaan Province. Sprite has been intricately involved in this project and can attest to the stress of the ups and downs and all arounds they’ve experienced this year. It has been a roller coaster. Funding in particular has been a major issue and as we head into 2024 we would ask you to pray that the government itself would see the need to fund as much of this project themselves as possible. One of the highlights of this project has been seeing the staff at these government children’s shelters in Isaan catch the vision for family strengthening. Though their career has been built upon caring for children in the residential care setting, they have been open and willing to learn other ways. Through the Pilot Project team’s various trips and trainings with them throughout the year they have come to see the importance of supporting and strengthening children’s families first before falling last resort to shelter care. Their openness and willingness to change is giving this project its power. It is slow moving and often discouraging to have to deal with the bureaucratic nature of it all - but if we persevere we believe Thailand will become a safer and better place for children to grow up - because their government will be committed to strengthening their families. We also hope that with the completion of the Family Strengthening Handbook this year, the government will now have a tool for how to work with families. Please pray for open doors as God leads for us to continue working with the government as they seek to implement this huge change first in the pilot in Isaan and later hopefully throughout the country.
one thing we’re
celebrating
FAMILY STRENGTHENING HANDBOOK: FROM THAILAND TO THE WORLD We have talked all year about this Family Strengthening Handbook. What is it and why has it taken so long to complete? We invite you to see for yourselves! Alternative Care Thailand has made the English version of the handbook available online HERE. Check it out! As of right now, 67 people have downloaded the handbook from 9 different countries! We praise God if this resource we created and intended for Thailand can be beneficial to people working with children and families across the globe.
one thing we’re
celebrating
YOU!
We want to thank YOU for a year of partnership! Together we are seeing progress towards our vision of seeing all children in Thailand growing up in safe and nurturing families! Because of YOU we have equipped leaders, trained communities and churches, written a curriculum/handbook, partnered with the Thai government, and seen God MOVE on behalf of vulnerable children & their families this year. Thank you for your partnership, your support, your prayers, and your commitment to Thailand. We are celebrating YOU!
pray with us... PRAYERS FOR 2024 At the end of the year, during the Advent season leading up to Christmas, we invited you all to pray with us for 25 different groups (more or less) of vulnerable children we see both here in Thailand and across the world. As we prayed for these specific groups of children, we felt heavy with the burden to continue serving families so that children don’t have to experience trauma like abuse, neglect, or violence. We also felt convicted to keep children the focus of what we do in 2024 - every training we put on and social worker we equip is all with the aim that we can together strengthen the caregivers of these children, we can strengthen their family so the children can have a better life. Join us as we begin 2024 in continuous prayer for the children facing impossible and unimaginable circumstances...
Lord,hear our prayers for...
CHILDREN GROWING UP IN POVERTY, CHILDREN LIVING ON THE STREETS, ORPHANS, WIDOWS, FOSTER FAMILIES, THE ADOPTED, TEEN MOTHERS, CHILDREN AFFECTED BY SICKNESS OR DISEASE, FORCED CHILD LABORERS, CHILD VICTIMS OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION, CHILD VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE, CHILDREN AT RISK OF EXPLOITATION, CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN ABANDONED, CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES, CHILDREN INVOLVED IN/IMPACTED BY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM, CHILDREN INVOLVED IN/IMPACTED BY DRUGS, CHILDREN OF LABORERS RESIDING IN UNSTABLE WORKPLACES, CHILDREN IN REMOTE PLACES, CHILDREN FLEEING VIOLENCE, PERSECUTION & WAR...
thei r fami l i e s &
"But let me run loose and free, celebrating God's great work, Every bone in my body laughing, singing, "God, there's no one like you. You put the down-and-out on their feet and protect the unprotected from bullies!"” -Psalm 35:9-10