About la Pouponnière

Pouponnière the Sisters of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary was founded on 05 August 1955.

The main objective was to complete the work overload of hospital services which they were not able to perform.

Because children treated for malnutrition, Kwashiorkor and denutrition are forced to leave prematurely from the hospitals, Pouponnière was looking for the deal to consolidate and intensify the treatment started in hospital.

Soon after came a more urgent need than the previous one:

 

• To welcome the newborn whose mother has just died. This situation often makes it more difficult child survival, due to:

• The precarious means of hygiene.
• Material and financial difficulties inherent in feeding a newborn
• Taboos and customs that are not in favor of child survival

Thus the need to assist families to combat child mortality is increasing.

Due to this the Pouponnière evolved, accepting temporarily remove the child from their family environment, only when it contributes to their welfare.

This is not to be an easy solution but a temporary replacement for cases difficult or impossible.

In such cases, the babies remain in contact with their families, the aim being that their parents or relatives to visit on Sunday afternoon.

This is to give the child as much as possible to develop a zest for life. If developed normally and eat country food (rice, fish, meat and vegetables), it returns with his family as soon it is one year old.

Preterm infants are more than a year until its initial development phase is normal.

Before returning to their homes, children receive the vaccine of the ENP (PEV spanish). In addition, we continue to help the family by offering a monthly food ration of milk  until the child is two years old, from when one considers that the family can handle completely.

The Pouponnière also responds to a call more important than the previous one: an abandoned child to receive.

Everywhere, reaching the world children are not recognized by their parents. This recognition is essential so that the baby is accepted by the families.

There are generally two types of cases of abandoned children :

• Infants found on public roads, police records and brings them either directly or most common, after a short stay in the hospital Dantec where they are carried initially.
• Babies whose birth is a problem for the family, whatever the reason: children born out of wedlock, children of parents who are not of the same ethnic group, or children of young mothers, parents who reject without any mercy, for which mothers are forced to renounce their motherhood.

These babies are entrusted by the Regional Court of Dakar and become raised, nurtured and loved in Pouponnière until the President of the Tribunal is entrusted them to a family seeking to adopt.

Adoptions are made by Africans and other nationalities.

The Pouponnière is also receiving exceptionally newborns whose mothers had been hospitalized until the mother is discharged.

Recent extensions to the Pouponnière

Since August 2009 Puponnière home to 86 orphaned, abandoned or some social event or sick mother . The children remain in the center to a year. The extension was made following the visit of the Spanish Queen, Queen Sofia,  in 2006. She was impressed by the excellent work done in the center and found the need to expand the facilities of the Pouponnière.

Her proposal to the Spanish Agency for International Development made possible the expansion and reform of the center in order to accommodate more children.