Simply Smiles Children's Villages

Staying safe in Oaxaca

The children are staying safe at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village in Oaxaca, Mexico, and even smiling while wearing masks!

By Alexandra Gross

Thank you to the John and Daria Barry Foundation for its ongoing support of Simply Smiles!

Simply Smiles builds villages of foster homes where children are raised by families and in strong, intentional communities. Our model is new and progressive: it moves away from institutional care while also addressing the limitations of the traditional foster care system. At Simply Smiles Children’s Villages, children live with loving parents and receive individualized, culturally specific, trauma-informed care that honors connection to biological family and allows children to heal and to thrive.

One of our most exciting endeavors is the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Both because of and despite the pandemic, the need for appropriate, safe housing for children in the foster care system is a profound need. The Simply Smiles Children's Village is licensed by the state of South Dakota’s Department of Social Services as a Therapeutic Foster Placement Agency. When complete, the first Simply Smiles Children’s Village will provide 36 child placement options for Native youth and children.

Simply Smiles Children's Village Oaxaca, Mexico

Reservation Children’s Village – first home

The first home in the Simply Smiles Children’s Village in La Plant, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation.

Kitchen & common area

The furnished kitchen and common area of the first home in the Children’s Village on the Reservation.

Foster Parent Bedroom

The furnished bedroom for the first parent on the Reservation.

Simply Smiles Clinical Director Hallie Riggs and the Reservation Village Advisory Team

The Simply Smiles Children’s Village Ówaŋžila (or, “team” in Lakota) on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation and in South Dakota. This incredible team of Native advisors is helping to craft the culture, policies, and procedures for the Simply Smiles Children's Village. Pictured (from left) are Marcella Gilbert, Clinical Director Hallie Riggs, MSW, LCSW, CSW-PIP, Madonna Thunderhawk, Mabel Ann Eagle Hunter, Virginia White Feather, Kee Lee, and Lisa Skye.

Grandmother's Group on the future site of the Simply Smiles Children's Village in La Plant, SD

The Waśagiya Najin Grandmothers' Group of the Cheyenne River Reservation visited the groundbreaking of the future site of the Simply Smiles Children’s Village in La Plant, South Dakota in July 2019. The group and its members serve as advisors for the Children’s Village initiative.

Breaking ground on the second home in the Reservation Children's Village, October 2020

Simply Smiles Children's Village--local partner Kee Lee and volunteers

Simply Smiles volunteers helped with construction of the first home in the Simply Smiles Children’s Village in Summer 2019. Our community has the opportunity to work closely with our local partners on the Reservation.

A few recent milestones that the Barry Foundation has helped to make possible:

·       Protecting and providing for the children who live in our care at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village in Oaxaca, Mexico.

·       Completing the first home in the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Reservation.

·       Securing and hiring the first Native foster parent on the Reservation.

·       Welcoming the first foster children into our care in October 2020.

·       Beginning construction on the second home in the Reservation Village.

·       Expanding our continued search for Native foster parents and relief caregivers.

Simply Smiles recognizes the strength that is born from overcoming adversity, and we nurture children to become adults who are driven and prepared to fulfill their dreams and to help better society for us all. The homes in our Simply Smiles Children’s Villages are filled with smiling faces. It’s on this foundation of happiness that, one smile at a time, a child’s bright future is built.

Thank you to the John and Daria Barry Foundation for being an invaluable part of the Simply Smiles community!

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Press & media inquiries:

Alexandra Gross, Communications Manager: alex@simplysmiles.org, 203-810-4041