Services for Children & Youths
Our services for children and youths include halfway homes, youth service centers, learning centers for drop-outs, a children service center and a children home. Correspondingly, we provide our services for girls who are abused by incest, sexually or physically exploited, drop-out junior high school students, children who are the witnesses of domestic violence,suffered from abandonment, maltreatment, negligence attendance, and the loss of their parents.In addition, preventive work has always been an active part of Good Shepherd’s services. Young people who were ignored and neglected by busy or irresponsible parents, hanging around the street in little bands easily fall prey to gangsters and ruthless pimps. Through our works, we can save them from getting further involved in delinquent behaviors, prostitution, and drugs.
Services for Women and Children in CrisisGood Shepherd sets up centers in Taipei, Taichung, and Chiayi for women and children in crisis. We provide women and children who suffer from sexual exploitation, domestic violence, desertion or other crisis situations, with a safe and caring environment in which to recuperate and rebuild their lives. The Taipei and Taichung Centers continue to provide services for women who had left our shelters and for women who came to our centers asking for help. The Chia-Yi Center provides consultation and counseling services to help
women to go through court process.For prevention, we provide counseling, training and do advocacy work to increase community awareness and seek to change societal attitudes. We believe that it is the right of every individual to be free from the fear of abuse.
Services for Single Parents and Adoption
As the statistics show that the rate of divorce is getting higher every year, helping single parents to overcome their problems, like lack of support, work, and economic security, is a muchneeded?service. Good Shepherd sets up Single Parent Family?Service Centers to provide complete welfare services for single parent families in New Taipei City. In addition, the Babies Home in Tainan, Lucy Center, and Nishin Shelter provide adoption arrangement, living attendance, counseling services, and medical services for the needy teenaged and single-parent mothers and children.We also provide services including counseling, connectingsocial resources, and training program to help single parents develop selfconfidence and self-assurance.We promote positive relationships between single parents and their children through activities that foster good parenting. For prevention, we hold related courses to prevent domestic violence.
Services for Foreign Spouses (New Immigrants) and Their Families
In providing shelter service for women and children who suffered in domestic violence we found that ‘foreign spouse’ victims were increasing rapidly. ‘Foreign spouse’ refers to women who immigrated to Taiwan through
marriage, not only lacking resources but?also facing unfriendly environments without sufficient legal support. In addition, they can speak little Chinese and do not know where to ask for help, which add to the difficulty of
reaching our social workers.In order to help these new immigrant women develop their new lives in Taiwan and to ease the
tension and challenge in marriage, we set up centers in New Taipei City West and East Centers,
Taichung Center, Yilan Center, and Kaohsiung to provide services for foreign spouses and their families
in family relationship maintenance, culture adaption, language learning, and parenthood education.
Services for Aboriginal Families
Since 1987, Good Shepherd has been doing preventative works in aboriginal areas, educates young people to protect themselves from abuse. Good Shepherd sets up Hualian Guangfu, Hualian Rueisuei and Hualian Yuli Aboriginal Family and Women Service Centers to provide services for aboriginal women and children such as schoolwork counseling, parenthood education and activities to promote good relations between parents and children.We visit aboriginal tribes to help disadvantaged families deal with problems, enhance family functions, and unify local resources for building caring community networks. We also provide emergency assistance and house calls, especially to those with children and youths. In addition, we offer followup services as well as after-school services for women and children suffering from domestic violence and single parent families in these locations.
Services for Anti-Human Trafficking
Good Shepherd started services?in Taiwan in 1987 because young girls were sold into prostitution. This problem has been resolved, but the problem of human trafficking is still emerging. Our work in combating human trafficking in Taiwan is prevention, protection, partnership, and participation.Since 2007, Good Shepherd has dedicated efforts to combating human trafficking by raising public awareness, advocacy, training, and evidence-based research. In addition, we were commissioned by the Taiwanese government to run a shelter for victims in Nan-Tou, central Taiwan since 2009. We provide legal aid, counseling, medical care, and employment assistance for victims. For partnership, we work together with government offices, NGOs, faith-based organizations, and the private sector in Taiwan. We also joined several
alliances against human trafficking crimes particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
