“We wanted to care for a child’s childhood until their family arrived”

Mariel vividly recalls the first time Cami, a baby in her care, embraced her. "I hadn't realized it until she did it that first time. Because she didn't hug me, she didn't have that typical gesture of babies, that as soon as you pick them up they put their arms around your neck," Mariel recounts. The moment Cami, then nine months old, crawled over and hugged her around the waist while they were playing on the floor, marked a profound connection.

Mariel, 57, and Lucas, 55, from San Isidro, are a marketing professional and a company director, respectively. They have a blended family with five children, the youngest living with them, and Lucas's children visit on weekends. For years, they considered becoming a foster family, offering care and affection to children separated from their parents due to rights violations while their legal cases are pending. They postponed the decision, believing they weren't ready.

"One day I was talking to my youngest daughter and she asked me: 'What are you waiting for?' That's when I realized I had to make the decision, because I wasn't waiting for anything, I just thought it wasn't the right time," Mariel explains. Prompted by this realization, she contacted the foundation Juguemos y Caminemos Juntos and began the application process. The process was swift, and within days of completing the paperwork, they began bonding with Cami.

Paola Fagúndez, a psychologist with the foundation, emphasizes the critical importance of having caregivers and affective references for children in their early childhood. The foundation's mission is to restore children's right to live within a family environment while their legal status is determined by the courts, whether they can return to their biological or extended family, or if adoption proceedings should begin. According to a 2022 report by the National Secretariat of Children, Adolescence and Family and UNICEF, over 9,000 children in Argentina are in similar situations, highlighting the need for foster families to provide a stable, loving environment during this uncertain period.