Where is Home was shot December 2015 and January 2016, in La Libertad, San Salvador, and Santa Ana, El Salvador, on assignment for the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Per El Salvador's child protection law, faces of children in government care could not be shown and their names had to be changed. Accompanying stories and video at: bit.ly/1RLWMYg
Sixteen year old "Beth" surfs instagram on the family ipad in her room at a private children's home in La Libertad, El Salvador. Beth has lived in the home since 2004 along with her three younger brothers. “When my twins were born, my dad left us, and my mom used to work all the time, so I used to take care of them. I was like four years old.” The private home Beth lives in encourages visits from biological family members, and even home-visits if it is safe for the children. “I’m happy here because I can feel comfortable, and there when I go to visit her, I don’t like the place, plus the people living there, and I think more about my brothers. They don’t like it ... It’s dangerous, mostly because of the guys there. They just come in the house and start talking to the person in there. My twins, my brothers, they hate when guys go there because like, I’m the girl, and they’re protective in that way.”
Caregiver Veronica prepares to cook lunch for the children of a private children's home in La Libertad, El Salvador. The caregivers work 48 hours on, 48 hours off, in order to insure a family atmosphere within the home and stable relationship with the children, who refer to the caretakers as aunt or uncle.
"Jason", 14, plays a game of operation on the dining room table of the private children's home where he lives in La Libertad, El Salvador.
A group of teenage girls sit in the corner of a basketball court on January 4, 2016 at a government operated children's home in San Salvador, El Salvador. Ricardo, the director of the home, said girls make up the majority of their population. “In some cases there are social risks, especially with girls, in this country there are gangs, they have had a connection with her, and they’re instructing them what to do," he said. "The girls aren’t criminals, the girls we have here. But there is a risk because they are girls. They’re very innocent and they’re very pretty, the gang members want them."
A construction worker welds pieces of fencing together at a government operated children's home in San Salvador, El Salvador on January 4, 2016. The 12 ft wall is being built to help reduce the number of children who escape from the home. “Over the past few weeks, 13 of them escaped. You don’t notice it right away, it’s quiet, it’s peaceful. The kids keep the caretakers occupied," said Elizabeth, the head of the caretakers in the home. "It’s odd because some of them don’t want to leave, sometimes when they say they want to they just start to cry. Some months, two will try to leave, some months one, some months no one. Then all of the sudden five of them will try to escape and it grows. Lately thank god, no one has tried to leave."
Laundry hangs to dry in the street in the rural village of El Tanque, in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Mateo, 5, participates in a craft project with a missionary volunteer from Ohio in the gang-controlled rural village of El Tanque, in San Salvador, El Salvador. The volunteers brought pizza and juice boxes to the members of the village, as well as participated in games and crafts with the children.
Trash lines the river bank that flows through the urban village of El Tanque in San Salvador, El Salvador. The unclean drinking water, combined with a lack of running water in most homes results in a majority of the population having water delivered in 5 gallon jugs.
Darlene, 10, poses for a photo in her home community of El Tanque, a gang controlled urban village in San Salvador.Most residents found in children's homes are young girls in Darlene's age group.
Caregiver Veronica brushes the hair of 14 year old "Lisa" at the front of the private children's home where she lives in La Libertad, El Salvador. Lisa celebrated her quincineara later in the week with all of her brothers and sisters from the home.
Clothes hang on the line to dry at a private children's home in La Libertad, El Savador. With nearly 20 children in the home full time, the 13 staff members including round the clock caregivers, a social worker and psychologist, help to insure each child receives adequate attention as well as maintains physical and mental health.
From left to right: Marielos, the bookkeeper for the home, Suzana, a caretaker, Jocelyn, 19, a former resident of the home, and Rachel, founder of the private children's home share a moment of laughter in the home office. The majority of the funding for the home comes from donations and sponsorhips, primarily from the United States. "It doesn’t feel like work every day, there’s definitely parts of running a children’s home that do feel like work," Rachel said. "But the interaction with the kids, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like being a mom."
Women and children sell fruit and bundles of socks on the sidewalk in Santa Ana, El Salvador. With minimum wage at just under $1, many people take to the streets selling small items in hopes to turn a profit, and children of all ages accompany their guardians in the street markets.