MISSION
Our mission at the aden + anais swaddle love foundation, Inc. is to improve the lives of babies in orphanages, while simultaneously provide opportunities for community women to earn an income.  Our funds are used to pay the salaries of local women we hire to work in understaffed orphanages to ensure that the babies raised there are never denied the most basic of human connections – a comforting touch.

Too often, babies in overcrowded orphanages are left alone for 15 hours a day or more, stranded in cribs and deprived of the simple benefit of being held or even touched by a caring adult. These babies rarely experience the joy of a hug, the security of being held, or the calming effect of being rocked to sleep. As a result, many babies suffer from what the medical and scientific communities call "touch deprivation," a condition that has been linked to many developmental disorders that surface in toddlers and older children, including reactive attachment disorders, behavioral issues, anxiety, and depression.

Our approach is two-fold: It provides essential care to babies in order to promote healthy emotional and physical development, as well as local jobs to women in impoverished areas of the world.

All babies need and deserve the experience of healthy human touch, and that is the guiding principle behind the aden + anais swaddle love foundation, Inc.  In association with The Foundation for Tomorrow and the laudable work it does educating older children, our goal is to ensure that no orphaned child is denied the comforting touch of a caring adult.

OUR STORY
The creation of the aden + anais swaddle love foundation, Inc. can be traced back to the story of one woman who saw a profound connection between three separate events in her life and decided to take action.

In 2008, Raegan Moya-Jones, a working mother and entrepreneur, who launched and owns a baby products company, was discussing with her husband the possibility of adopting a child for the first time. While poring over materials about adoption programs, the couple -- already the loving parents of three daughters -- discovered that most of the orphanages in developing countries were overcrowded and understaffed.

More disturbing, Raegan found that due to limited resources at orphanages, caregivers are unable to spend sufficient time with the babies, who are often left alone in cribs -- sometimes locked in with a gate that covers the top of the crib -- from 7:00 pm until 10:00 am.  The staff arrives in the morning to feed and change the diapers of the infants, who are tended to in a rushed manner, as there are too many babies and not enough hands to do anything more than a quick dash through the nursery. As a result, many babies are left crying, self-taught to settle themselves, with little interaction with the overworked staff.

While Raegan absorbed the alarming truth about understaffed orphanages, she was in the midst of conducting research for a book she was writing called swaddle love, a personal and historical account of the ancient tradition of swaddling babies. She had recently learned about the effects of "touch deprivation" in infants and discovered that holding babies increases tactile stimulation. She also learned that soothing touch, such as hugging and rocking, helps foster a healthy parent attachment, aids with early socialization, and enhances a child’s ability to focus and learn.

During the same period, Raegan was working to create a new charity that would be affiliated with her company. Although she didn't know what shape the charity would take, she was intent on fulfilling a promise that she made to herself a few years earlier: If her business became successful, she would find a way to "give back" to communities that needed help. It all came together in June 2009, when she attended a fundraising dinner and sat with a friend of a friend who runs The Foundation for Tomorrow.

The Foundation for Tomorrow is an organization that works to educate older children in orphanages in Tanzania as a means of empowerment and breaking the cycle of poverty. Bingo! A light bulb went off in Raegan's head. Her charity, the aden + anais swaddle love foundation, Inc.,  would begin by working with The Foundation for Tomorrow in Tanzania, but focus on the babies in orphanages, rather than on the older children.

The aden + anais swaddle love foundation, Inc. was established to provide more employees in understaffed orphanages, so babies would not be left alone for long stretches of time and would not be deprived of being held, hugged, or rocked to sleep. Raegan also felt strongly about wanting to provide an opportunity to qualified local woman, who would be hired to do the job, to earn a living.

Currently, Raegan's aim is eventually to expand the dual-program model beyond Tanzania and bring the support and hope of aden + anais swaddle love foundation, Inc. to other parts of the world.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Raegan Moya-Jones, President
Liz Tunick, Vice President
David Suk, Secretary