In september 2023, the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ) received a complaint of child abuse at the Heart-to-Heart orphanage. What ASJ staff discovered as a result of this complaint was horrifying, but the courage of the victims to talk about what had happened to them, made it possible to stop the abuses and opened a path to justice.
The «Children’s Village,» according to the Corazón a Corazón website, is an eight-acre property, with separate facilities for children, girls, and infants. The non-profit organization received 5 million US dollars between 2019 and 2023, according to public financial information.
The Heart to Heart home was founded 24 years ago by four people, including Óscar Bernardo Serrano Barahona, a Honduran pastor who has served as director of the home since its beginning and against whom complaints were registered in March 2024, by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The complaints accused Serrano of child sexual abuse, forced labor and human trafficking in the form of irregular adoption and servitude.
The pastor, according to statements by the victims, made visits in villages of Puerto Cortés and Santa Bárbara to families with limited economic resources, to whom he offered a better future for the children, with the possibility of traveling to the United States. Imbued with hope, parents ended up legally ceding the rights to their sons and daughters.
Several of these young women, whom Serrano took to his private home after celebrating their 15th birthday parties, were victims of child sexual abuse. Other minors indicated that they were physically abused by the suspect, who among other punishments forced them to work without pay on his properties.
According to the records of the Honduran Property Institute, the suspect – and not the children’s home – is listed as the nominal owner of vehicles, land, a school, a medical clinic, a coffee farm and homes, including one located in San Pedro Sula.
Following the alert made by ASJ, the Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated proceedings through the Technical Criminal Investigation Agency (ATIC), including the intervention of the home, in a coordinated effort with the Secretariat of Children, Adolescents and Family (SENAF) and the Children’s Prosecutor’s Office in San Pedro Sula. Later, the children were transferred to a new children’s home while the investigation was carried out.
It should be noted that of the 70 beneficiaries reported by the «Heart to Heart» ministry as beneficiaries, only 35 (24 girls and 11 boys) were found in the operation.
For its part, SENAF confirmed that most of the minors are reunited now with their families and that it is helping to procure student scholarships and other aid that will allow them to continue their studies.
With the support of ASJ and Aerial Recovery, a United States-based organization dedicated to fighting sex trafficking and abuse, several of the victims, despite their fear of reprisals, bravely denounced their aggressor and today they are waiting for justice.
On July 30, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Children issued a prosecutorial injunction against Óscar Serrano, which resulted in an arrest warrant and international alert to find his whereabouts.
As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Honduras is committed to promoting the recovery and social reintegration of child victims of abuse, neglect, exploitation and torture. However, reports from international organizations point to important institutional challenges and the need to address persistent structural causes for the protection of children and adolescents, particularly children and adolescents who remain under shelter in children’s homes and temporary shelters that should be supervised by the Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and the Family (SENAF).
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
For its part, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), after an on-site visit carried out in April 2023, pointed out that:
To prevent more children and young people from being victims of reprehensible acts such as those denounced, ASJ urges the Honduran government to:
Other authorities and defenders of children’s rights have joined this clamor for justice.
Child sexual abuse is one of the most egregious violations of a child’s rights. Victims not only face physical trauma, but also psychological trauma that can affect their development and long-term well-being.
ASJ and others concerned with the well-being of the children from Heart to Heart have set up a gofund me page to provide support to the children impacted by the abuses at the Heart to Heart home. Your donation can make a significant difference in the lives of these children, helping them regain their safety, dignity and well-being.
With your support, we can: