Many of the girls who live here were victims of sexual abuse and became pregnant.
At the St. Mary Euphrasia home in Puerto Rico, the girls receive psychological, material and spiritual support. More than 1,000 girls have lived here over the last 40 years. Some of them return after many years to visit the home that took them in during one of their most difficult moments.
RAQUEL GONZÁLEZ
Director, St. Mary Euphrasia Home
One woman, when she came to visit the home, wanted her husband to know the place where she had her first baby. That's where I met her, she shared this with me and said “I wanted my husband to know where I spent the happiest days of my youth.”
Raquel has worked at the center for 10 years and says it is difficult to deal with the trauma these girls suffered.
RAQUEL GONZÁLEZ
Director, St. Mary Euphrasia Home
We work on a case by case basis with a lot of sensitivity. We empower them and foster attachment with their baby, that their child is a blessing and a gift from God.
We work to achieve this attachment between the mother and her baby so that these babies do not become victims of abuse, of cycles of abuse that continue in the future.
The center is managed by the Good Shepherd Sisters of St. Mary Euphrasia and inspired by the legacy of this saint. The motto that is written on the walls of the home in Puerto Rico is one of St. Mary's best-known phrases: “One person is worth more than a world.”
PA
TR: AT
