Mother’s Heart has been operating for 6 years, soon to be 7.
We first started with a small group of dedicated people led by Katrina Gliddon, with the vision that no women should face a crisis pregnancy alone. Katrina, Nara and Somphors believed we could make Cambodia better by helping single women shunned from their community. They accompanied them on the way to motherhood, and showed them that despite adversity, they were in control of their lives.
The following years, our staff grew in numbers, and we are now 22 working full-time to improve the lives of single women. We are still the only crisis pregnancy center that councils women about their 3 choices: parenting, kinship care and termination (referal to Mary Stopes).
We provide Pregnancy Support to strengthen single pregnant women’s access to all the services relevant to become a parent, among which: medical care, family reconciliation, maternal education, day care, job placement.
Katrina Gliddon has had to go back to Australia with her family. She is still involved in Mother’s Heart as a board member and is fundraising as our Founder in Australia.
Mother’s Heart now has a Senior Management Team (SMT), composed of:
• Emily Scott, Country Director
• Nara Chear, Finance Manager
• Somphors Seong, Senior Social Worker
• Charlotte Buckley, Operations Manager
• Rebecca Tjoa, Communications and Fundraising Manager
This allows Mother’s Heart to have a collegial structure that is prone to open dialogue.
Together as a SMT, we are building a strong strategy for our future.
Each member of our staff follows the lead of our founder by being passionate about our vision and dedicated to our mission.
As a supporter of our cause, you must have been inspired by Katrina, her vision for Cambodian women and children and her strong leadership. We vow to remain true to her founding principles.
Our focus is on our service users, with a goal to reach maturity by servicing more women, supporting them with Honesty, Ethics, Authenticity, Respect and mutual Trust. This will remain the HEART of our mission for years to come, and we look forward to having your support in our endeavors.
Mother's Heart Senior Management Team
Emily Scott, Country Director
Nara Chear, Acco
unting Manager
Somphors Seong, Senior Social Worker
Charlotte Buckley, Operations Director
Rebecca Tjoa, Communications and Fundraising
At Mother’s Heart we support women and girls facing crisis pregnancies and help them understand their choices. Many women and girls choose to keep their babies, but for some parenting their babies is not always the best choice. Some women and girls face incredible challenges. While they love their babies, they also recognize that their baby may have a better future with different parents. Mother’s Heart always counsels these girls and women to ensure that they have made an informed choice and that their baby will be safe and well-cared for in a loving family.
Recently, a teenage girl gave birth to her baby, and with the support of her family chose to relinquish her parental rights to the child. She loved her baby, but she knew that neither she nor her family would be in a position to parent this child. She made an incredibly difficult, selfless decision, and she was confident in that decision. Mother’s Heart staff encouraged her to write a letter to her baby for the future, and she hoped that she may be able to receive photos or updates about how her baby is growing and thriving in a new family. Her child will be placed in a permanent foster family, as domestic adoption is not yet a workable process for Cambodian families.
However, this will hopefully be changing in the near future. Mother’s Heart has the opportunity to participate in a newly developed Alternative Care Panel in Cambodia, where representatives from key stakeholders in alternative care of children in Cambodia will collaborate to ensure that the best interests of children are maintained. Further, this panel hopes to operationalize the domestic adoption policy to ensure that children can receive the full rights and benefits that a legal adoption brings. Mother’s Heart believes this is an important part of our work, as we want to offer the women and girls who enter our program with the best choices available, which includes choices regarding open/closed adoptions, choosing potential adoptive parents, and ensuring that their child’s rights are protected. Relinquishing a child is not an easy choice to make, but we hope that with expanded options and information, women and girls who choose this path will feel empowered through the process.
We are Proud of our Staff!
Somaly - Temporary Foster
Somaly is a temporary foster mom for MH. Relinquished babies remain in her care for three months before they go to their forever families. She lives on the outskirts of Phnom Penh with her husband and three kids aged 18, 12, and 8. She started working for MH in 2015 and currently has her 3rd foster child in her care. "I heard about Mother's Heart and the temporary foster family opening through a friend who works at Mother's Heart. I was interested in the job because my family and I wanted help our society. Even my children understand this. My auntie came one day to visit and scolded me asking why I had taken on this responsibility. My daughter immediately answered that we were doing our part to help the community." Somally's whole family help with each foster baby. "My husband takes his turn caring for the babies in the morning so I can get a bit more sleep. At first my kids didn't know what to do with a newborn, but now even they help with the babies in our care." Somaly loves the job she does and we are happy to have her at MH!
Mother's Heart Partnership with Little Lambs Day Care
It is such an amazing opportunity to witness single mothers learn skills and then work to support themselves and their child. That's why Little Lambs Day Care exists, to provide a child care service for single mothers so that they have the opportunity to train and find employment to support themselves and their children.
I have been working as the day care coordinator now for three years and it has been a privilege to see women thriving in their role as mum. Being a single mother is not easy, but these mothers work hard at it, and do an amazing job. I love watching the mothers return at the end of the day and seeing the children’s face light up as they run to their mothers for a hug. It shows what a great attachment these children have with their mothers. Our children do not have attachment disorders (which is so common in children who grow up in orphanages). This means the children within our day care have a great start to life. They also have the opportunity to be part of our high quality early childhood program as well as receive nutritious meals throughout the day. We have five wonderful highly dedicated Khmer child care workers who provide the children with wonderful learning opportunities. It had been great to watch these workers grow in their understanding of child development and improve their skills in providing an educational early years program.
I remember one little boy who started at our daycare when he was 14 months old. His mum had been working in the province but had come back to the Phnom Penh for a better training opportunity. When this boy started at daycare it was evident that he was slightly developmentally delayed; he had absolutely no interest in toys or playing and no interest in
attempting to walk. He just sat and stared. Through lots of patience and perseverance from the staff we worked closely with him to encourage him to walk and helped him learn to play. Now he is a happy 2 year old child, he loves playing, running around and has caught up developmentally. His mother has almost finished her training course and will soon begin work.
The early years of a child’s life are very important and a high quality early childhood program provides a child with the foundation they need to succeed in school as well as in their life. This year we will have our first child leave us to start school. She will be attending a great local Khmer school.
At the moment the daycare is at full capacity; in our current premise we can only take 20 children. We need a bigger building as well as more childcare workers. It is our hope that we can eventually have 4 rooms for the different age groups, allowing for smaller group sizes and a better program catering for each specific age group.
We're Proud of Our Staff
Deborah - Child Care Coordinator
Deborah has been working as the day care coordinator of Little Lambs Day Care now for three years. She has an early childhood teaching and nursing degree, and in the past has worked in child care in Australia and Indonesia. During her time at Bible College, she was involved in a short term trip to Cambodia. She fell in love with Cambodia and wanted to be able to use her training in early childhood to help empower the Khmer people to care for their children well. She says, "This position with Mother's Heart was perfect for me, I originally agreed to work at Little Lambs Day Care for 6 months and 3 years later I am still here."
Deborah is a valued member of our team. We love her willingness to serve Mother's Heart and hope she will stay for many years to come!
