Bethany Children's Trust

About

The Bethany Children’s Trust (BCT) exists to influence, mobilise and equip churches and communities to respond to the needs of children at risk – for example those affected by living on the streets, disability, child witchcraft accusations and other forms of abuse – so that they can be restored and released to become all that God has created them to be. BCT works in partnership or collaboration with community-based projects caring for marginalised children that are led by or involve local churches, and helps to strengthen their initiatives through training, advice in project management and development and sometimes financial support. We focus on projects that seek to address children’s needs within the context of family and community life, and like to invest in projects willing and able to collaborate with others and to multiply their initiatives across areas and regions. In these ways, the lives of more and more marginalised children can be impacted.

BCT also trains churches, both in the UK and overseas, in issues and skills such as child rights and protection, good parenting and child care and development. We aim to equip and encourage the Christian church to act and advocate for vulnerable children, in both the local and global context.

We have a vison to mobilise a movement of ‘Champions for Children’, and so offer individuals, businesses and other groups a channel through which they can play a part in transforming children’s lives.

The Bethany Children’s Trust current overseas project partners are:

Aprecom: Rwanda – supporting children and adults affected by HIV in Rwanda’s capital city, with home-based care and child and adult support groups.

Laissez Vivre Les Enfants (LVLE) Let Children Live - supporting street-living children in Goma, befriending children and providing consistent and sustained support for those they get to know well. LVLE regularly provides training on child witch accusations, which are rife in Goma, using SCWA’s ‘The Heart of the Matter’ resource.

Wukwashi Wa Nzambi: Zambia – bringing rehabilitative therapy and help in accessing medical treatment and appropriate education for children living with disabilities.

BCT also collaborates with and supports projects working with marginalised children in the UK.

Mobilising Christians to respond to the needs of children at risk.