Photo intro to our family.

This is us--

Nick and Gwenn Mangine. We got married in October of 2000.

And here's a little info on the gaggle of kids in our home. We have grown our family in some traditional and non-traditional ways. We believe that family is chosen and permanent. Two of are kids are biological, we adopted one, eight are in the long-term custody of the organization, and one is in our personal custody with intent to adopt.

The children of Joy in Hope are not available for adoption. We think adoption is a fantastic thing (obviously) but it is not the focus of our work here. Instead, we want to give orphaned, abandoned, and enslaved children the opportunity to grow up in their own culture in a strong family. It is our desire that this opportunity will translate into well-educated, healthy and adjusted community members when they are ready to enter society. We believe that strategy can ultimately lead to Jacmel becoming greatly strengthened over several generations, which will lead to ripples throughout Haiti.

We generally accept children between the ages of 5-12. And then they stay with us for the long haul! We've made a long term commitment to these kids.

Here are our kids in the order they came into our family--

Nia-- Born July 2003 (biological)

Nico- Born November 2004, Joined family July 2007


Josiah- Born June 2007 (biological)

Fritzie- Born September 1994, Joined family September 2009

Prisca- Born June 2002, Joined family September 2009

Wildarne- Born September 2003, Joined family- September 2009

Jean Louis- Born December 1997, Joined family December 2009

Jerry- Born December 2001, Joined family December 2009

Yves- Born February 1998 (date in question), Joined family March 2010

Sanndi- Born July 2001, Joined family July 2010

Manita- Born July 2006, Joined family December 2010

Schneider- Born November 2010, Joined family June 2011


And our dog, Piman, too... She's not a kid but she's a great part of the insanity of our home.

Here's all of us in one place at one time: The Mangine Many (as we like to call ourselves)
Side note: Long ago we realized that we'd never have a truly good family photo where everyone is smiling/happy, open-eyed, etc. So we just embrace the disheveled-everyone-is-looking-different-direction kind of look. But this strategy comes with a warning. Just because a kid might look like they are a mass murderer in this picture doesn't mean they actually are one. =For example, in this picture, our likely future mass murder is smiling... (JUST KIDDING!)