J376 Baan Fah Sighy Children’s Home

The Situation

Though the Thai Government and various NGOs continue to work to reduce child prostitution, AIDS and child abandonment, UNICEF still estimate there are between 60,000 and 200,000 children involved in child prostitution in Thailand. Human trafficking is a stark reality in the nations of SE Asia with many children being sold into prostitution by their families at an early age. Those at greatest risk are the orphaned, abandoned, poor and homeless. An investigation into the social structure in Thailand indicates that poverty, cultural pressures and the lack of a broadly developed social welfare system increasingly forces young people into prostitution and also unmarried mothers to abandon their new born children by either selling them, handing them on to government orphanages or simply dumping them.

Situated in Chiangmai Province, North Thailand, Baan Fah Sighy is project that took in new born babies who were either orphaned, abandoned or rejected by their families. Opened in 2002, Baan Fah Sighy is translated “Home of Blue Skies” likening the bright new beginning after a dark storm, to the hope given to rejected and impoverished children who have found love and life at this home.

Co-founders, Phil and Wanida Hohnen oversee the running and development of the home and its staff of teachers and workers. Dedicated to providing a loving family environment, education and guidance, Baan Fah Sighy leads marginalised children into life with positive direction and a sense of destiny. 

The Objectives

1. To provide home and education opportunities for young people growing up in Baan Fah Sighy Home, leading to skilled and qualified young adults capable of independent living.
2. Baan Fah Sigh-y provides emergency accommodation, health care and support to both new born babies and young ladies who are both pregnant and rejected by their families or new mothers in crisis situations. Operating a Safe House for babies, children and young ladies at risk, the project provides a safe environment in which individual development needs can be assessed and addressed.
3. A home and primary school has been constructed on 3 acres of land at Hot, a safe and remote rural area around 111km south of Chiangmai, providing accommodation and emergency relief.