177 ViewsAside from providing a home to a child for 3-4 weeks, what else is expected of me?

Category: Expectations

Host families are expected to involve the children in an active, nurturing environment, and provide them with their basic necessities while they are here. In addition to family/vacation activities, families must attend weekend events that bring all families and host children together. 

Children often arrive with limited items. We ask host families to provide basic clothing and hygiene items for their host child.

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159 ViewsDo host families have to speak the child’s language?

Category: Language

Surprisingly, the language barrier is not a critical problem. Families who have hosted children say they were able to overcome communications problems quickly. The children learn much English from your family, and quickly pick up household words.

To provide additional support to our host families, OHHC provides a glossary of familiar terms in Russian, Ukrainian and Latvian. Volunteer translators will be available to interpret and help families communicate with their host child.

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