Did you know that many of the most prevalent and chronic diseases of adulthood are rooted in children’s experiences? When children experience significant adversity, this can disrupt other systems in the body, causing effects that have lifelong implications for health and well-being¹. And yet, there is hope.  Child-centered support and quality care fosters healthy development and can provide pathways to healing and resilience.

Children of the Nations International (COTNI) partners with organizations in 5 countries, providing children with holistic care they need and deserve.

As the Social and Physical Care Program Leader for COTNI, I’m excited to cheer along partner organizations as they work toward our shared end results.

Social care end result: children who can integrate their past experiences into their lives, maintain connections with their communities, achieve lasting and meaningful relationships, and thrive in school and in the workplace.

Physical care end result: children who are physically healthy with the ability to demonstrate and promote health in their lives, communities, and beyond. 

September 2026 Update 

As summer turns to fall, your family may be settling into new routines, enjoying back to school events, and reminiscing about sunny summer days. Across the COTN alliance, our partners are doing the same. Here’s a look at what has been happening across the alliance.  
 

Reminiscing about summer 

• Caitlin spent a week with COTN Dominican Republic supporting program mapping and planning, while also facilitating learning sessions on child protection and trauma-informed care. These investments equip staff to better recognize children’s needs and respond to them with greater skill and understanding. 

• Social and Physical Care staff from across Africa gathered virtually for learning sessions on healthy relationships, consent, and disability inclusion. 

• Partners in COTN Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone, and Haiti hosted summer camps where children could learn, build relationships, and participate in activities designed to support their holistic wellbeing. 

Back to School 

Across the Alliance, Social Care teams have been working to make education possible, by helping families with school fees, uniforms, and supplies and following up with children who have not yet returned to school. When a child is missing from the classroom, staff go into the community and, when necessary, to the child’s home to help identify what is keeping them from returning. 

Physical Care teams are also preparing for the new school year by ensuring health posts are stocked and ready to care for students. At COTN Dominican Republic, the Physical Care team welcomed students personally on their first day back. 

Looking ahead 

• Helping children build skills for life: This fall, the COTNI Social Care department plans to launch a Social-Emotional Learning Toolkit to help partners teach and model healthy relationships, social skills, and self-regulation. 

• Keeping students connected to health education: The COTNI Physical Care department will begin developing a virtual health education project to provide university students with important health information and resources, even when they are studying away from their home communities. 

This September, a generous donor has committed to match gifts to “Partner with COTN through Caitlin,” up to $500 USD. If you would like to help support this work, your gift this month will allow us to unlock those additional funds. 

Will you partner with me this month to help strengthen the care and support provided to children across the COTN Alliance? Your gift can help make these initiatives possible—and, thanks to this matching opportunity, your impact can be doubled.

1) National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2020). Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined Working Paper No. 15. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.