Latin America
Covenant House has been present in Latin America for over 40 years. We provide unconditional love and relentless support to children and teens facing human trafficking, exploitation, violence, and abuse in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Why Latin America?
In Latin America, youth face poverty, violence, and broken systems. More than 70% of those we serve have suffered abuse or neglect, 54% human trafficking, and 43% community violence.
Because every child deserves safety, love, and a future.
The youth we serve in Latin America are 12-18 years old (some even younger). They are the youngest residents across the entire Covenant House federation because in this region, there is almost no safety net for young people facing poverty, violence, and abuse.
Learn more about or work in Latin America
What Does Covenant House do in Latin America?
We give youth a space where they are safe and loved and the chance to just be kids — often for the first time in their lives.
We provide youth with:
- Safe residential care – a home filled with relentless support, unconditional love, and absolute respect.
- Education support – the resources youth need in order to stay in school and reach their goals.
- Job readiness programs – help building the skills that will offer independence and opportunity.
- Legal aid – expert counsel to defend their rights and restore their dignity.
- Mental health support – trauma-informed therapeutic individual and group counseling.
Food
Our youth can count on three nutritious meals and a snack each day. These meals are more than hearty food—they serve as the foundation for building trust with youth who may have experienced abuse or abandonment, or who may have gone hungry in homes struggling to put food on the table, or when they were facing homelessness on the streets.
Shelter
We offer them a welcoming and safe environment based on absolute respect, unconditional love, and relentless support. We make sure that when young people settle into their residential floor, they are welcomed by staff to help get them situated and comfortable. Residents have access to private spaces for time alone and communal spaces designed to encourage healthy relationships.
Medical Care
Our trauma-informed health and well-being services range from medical care at our on-site health centers at certain sites, to yoga classes, art and music therapy, counseling, religious and spiritual services, and physical fitness. In these activities, young people heal from the harm done to them while living unhoused and take control of their lives, build on their strengths, and nourish their self-confidence.
The Journey Home in Latin America: Safe Homes & Communities, Free of Violence
Covenant House will focus on three pathways to ending youth homelessness as we know it today: prevention, intervention, and restoration. Here's what each of these pathways look like in Latin America.
Pathway 1: Prevention
Our Latin America sites combine national advocacy with local community education to prevent violence, abuse, and trafficking before it even starts.
- Child rights at the center
- National impact
- Local action
- Community networks
Child rights at the center
Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico are signatories of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and our prevention work builds on this commitment.
National Impact
Advocating for stronger child protection and anti-trafficking laws and their enforcement.
Learn More About our Advocacy
Local Action
Street outreach, school programs, and trainings with police, municipalities, and neighborhood organizations to help communities identify and report child abuse and trafficking.
Community Networks
In Guatemala, Covenant House has built 18 Community Support Networks across three departments to protect vulnerable children and youth.
Learn More About our OutreachPathway 2: Intervention
In Latin America, we house close to 200 youth every night. Our dedicated teams of educators, psychologists, social workers, case managers, medical professionals, and lawyers work together to provide comprehensive and interdisciplinary care:
- Psychological support: Counseling and therapy to help youth heal from trauma.
- Legal services: Strategic litigation to bring traffickers and other child abusers to justice.
- Education & empowerment: Teaching young people their rights and how to recognize and resist trafficking.
Pathway 3: Restoration
Because our residents in Latin America are so young, Covenant House focuses on 2 safe pathways for restorative after-care:
- Family Reintegration
- Independent Living
Family Reintegration + Support Services
If Covenant House social workers and child protection agencies determine the home is safe, our goal is family reunification. We support not only the youth but the entire family through:
- Parenting classes.
- Psychosocial support.
- Career development opportunities.
Independent Living + Residential Care
In cases where family reintegration is unsafe, youth remain in our residences until the age of 18. We help them prepare for independence with:
- School support.
- Workforce and life skills training.
- In Mexico, our apartment program offers youth the opportunity to live independently with ongoing wraparound support.
Last Year, we reached over 10,200 youth across Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras
Our outreach, prevention, and residential programs reach thousands of children and adolescents in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico each year. We offer them safety, stability, healing, and hope, while advocating for systemic changes that impact all children in the region.
Provided 67,100 nights of safe housing for youth under age 18
Helped 525 youth safely return to their homes and families
Cared for 17 mothers, some as young as 12 years old
Help restore safety & dignity to hundreds of young lives every day.
We are transforming lives for children and youth across Latin America. But countless more are waiting for the safety and care we cannot yet provide without your support.
Become a valued member of our community and support our children and youth in Central America and Mexico — including through our in-person Camino a Casa delegations to Covenant House sites in Latin America.