Does funding orphanages create orphans?
Posted on January 16, 2010 at 10:00 am
This is an edited repost of an article written in June of ’09
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If the unthinkable were to happen and you and your spouse, or one of your children and their spouse, were to die in a disaster, would your children or grandchildren be sent to an orphanage?
Most likely, before being sent to an orphanage there would be grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, and close family friends or neighbors would take care of your children. This is also true in developing countries where families often live even closer to each other and have a greater role in helping each other raise children. In reality there are relatively few cases where a child is completely without someone who could take care of them if they had the financial means to do so.
MYTH: Hordes of abandoned orphans - from the World Disaster Report 2005
Orphanages are attractive to donors
With the majority of children having someone willing to take care of them, why are there so many orphanages? As the IRIN article West Africa, Protecting Children from Orphan Dealers states:
Many of the children in orphanages are not actually orphans
After the tsunami money came pouring into orphanages and foster care programs. I had two different instances where staff from an orphanage and a foster care program came to me seeking orphans. The foster care program and orphanage were built without first determining whether there was actually a need, and both programs eventually had to settle for street children. There were few children that were not cared for by family or living in a state sponsored boarding school.
The following examples are from the article West Africa, Protecting Children from Orphan Dealers
“One in eight Liberians is classified as a child missing one or both parents. But many of the estimated 5,800 estimated children in orphanages are reportedly not orphans, according to local child rights activists”.
Never assume that orphanages are licensed by the state
Just because an organization is seeking funds to build an orphanage does not mean they are actually licensed by the state to work with orphans. From IRIN
In Thailand, two theme orphanages were built after the tsunami. One was aimed at creating an all-orphan sports team, the other was developed to be a tourist facility. The children at the second orphanage waited on the tourists as part of a livelihoods training program. I question whether either of these orphanages were licensed by the government.
Why are there so many children with living parents in orphanages?
With so much money going to orphanages, parents may feel that it is the only way to provide for their children. From IRIN
When I visited UNICEF in Indonesia, I was told that parents were abandoning their children at orphanages because they didn’t have the money to feed and clothe them anymore. This was such a problem that UNICEF was undergoing an extensive campaign to:
As bad as the above examples sound, there are even worse examples of children with living parents being placed in orphanages. A recent article from the Salt Lake Tribune states:
Orphanages are naturally appealing projects, unfortunately from the few examples given above it is clear that many do more harm than good. Donors should investigate a proposed orphanage thoroughly before donating. Donors should also consider donating to programs that support families and caretakers. From IRIN:
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If this were your child – Haiti orphans
Articles linked to in this post:
IRIN: West Africa, Protecting Children from Orphan Dealers
Three myths – among many, The World Disaster Report, 2005 Indonesia – Emergency protection of children separated from parents in the tsunami – UNICEF
At least $108K sought for Samoan kids – Salt Lake Tribune
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United Nations Guidelines for the alternative care of children
This blog’s post explaining how donors can use these guidelines in their funding decisions Be cautious when funding orphanages
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Recent research:
A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations
This blog’s post regarding this research New Research on Orphanages
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IRIN Africa: Why family is best for orphans
UNICEF – Social Protection Strategy in Eastern and Southern Africa
United Nations working paper Reconstructing well-being after a disaster: Bringing public service to those who need it the most in China
United Nations report Human Rights in Liberia’s Orphanages
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Related Posts:
Placing children in orphanages or up for adoption can be a lucrative trade
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Related blogs:
Children in Emergencies: Applying what we know – wait… what? A must read for any interested in issues surrounding children after a disaster.
A protest against orphanage tourism – Lessons I Learned blog
« 6 questions you should ask before donating goods overseas • Posts and articles written by aid workers related to the Haiti relief efforts »
Hi Saundra,
Just to let you know that you are doing a fantastic job with your website.
It is a goldmine of information and I have been able to prevent some pretty awful decisions from being made by using the arguments that you have put across here.
Please don’t stop.
Well done!
A lot of negative comments on Orphanages. (wow, not good)
Let’s understand first the psychology of an orphanage owner;
in order to create such home, you have to have good personality and good qualities.
It is a non profit organization; a greedy person would not go for it.
I am a business woman, have met with different organizations.
An organization like orphanage; not everyone could do that. (Not so negative you ALL)
Great job for having this article. For me the reason why orphanages exist because it needs to help less fortunate children who are victims of abuse or being abandon by some ruthless parents. I think funding orphanages does not create more orphans since these orphanages are built to help the needy ones. Anyway, kudos to your post!
Ray,
If it was the case that orphanages only existed for children who were victims of abuse or abandoned by ruthless parents, I would not have written this post. Unfortunately, research shows that this is not the case. While there are some cases similar to what your describe, most children in orphanages (around 80%) are there because of poverty which prevents their parents or relatives from caring for them adequately. For these 80% of children it would be far better to support the family to care for the children themselves rather than institutionalizing the child.
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hi all,
i like this post but have a following point,
You see, there is a shortage of goods, food items in disaster area e.g. Haiti, Pakistan etc. By sending cash, we are simply increasing the money supply. But money is of no use if the item it is supposed to buy is in shortage.
So what happens when money is in surplus but items in shortage? Inflation. Yes things become more and more costlier and less and less people can afford to buy the items of necessities which become less and less.
Whats your advice on this kind of situation.
My suggestions are to buy the goods locally, even if it leads to short term inflation. There are far too many issues with goods shipped in that are inappropriate to the local climate, culture, electrical systems, etc… Huge problems occur after each disaster with donated goods that aren’t needed and clog the ports blocking other goods from arriving. The cost and environmental impact of disposing of these goods – such as inappropriate or outdated medicines is significant and far greater than temporary inflation.
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does Europe also have abandoned orphans to cater for!
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Good article and one of the issues we are trying to tackle in our country. Our NGO believes that Every Child Needs a Family. “OrphanCARE aims to help change society’s mindset towards orphans, recognizing that children should not be left permanently in orphanages which should really only be ‘transit points’ before they are placed with families who can bring them up in a proper family structure.” Too many orphanages do not allow their orphans to be adopted as some orphanages are steered by the financial incentives provided by donors. We hope more people will realize this and do more to help create change as institutionalizing children is not the way to go.
Dear OrphanCARE
Do you have a family reunification program? Are you doing local adoptions or international adoptions – international adoptions can be money making endeavors just the same as orphanages. So I’m extremely cautious about those always. Would your center pass the questions I lay out in the the post - How to evaluate an orphanage?
Adoption is just as fraught with problems as orphanages are.
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we are working for orphans in abbortabad, our NGO name is Human Care Society Pakistan Lahore, this orphanage was started after earthqauck in 2005 beacuse these children lost there parents so we go there and found many children, here there ae getting education and all the facilities. it is running thourgh our own but now it is difficult for us to continue due to lack of funds, we are looking for funds to pay salaries and utility bills, rent of building and others
looking forward to see your positive response
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Yes, funding for orphanages does seem to create orphans, at least it does in Nepal. Many, if not most, children in so-called orphanages are not orphans. They are economic orphans only. Parents frequently make “paper orphans” of their children because most orphanages send the kids to private schools, which the parent could never afford. The kids get a much better education, meals, clothing and so forth that the parents cannot or will not provide. In Nepal there is zero accountability on this issue. There is an agency in charge of regulating the homes but they have no staff to actually go and inspect the homes. A lot of rules, no enforcement and while technically a home requires a license, there are a lot of illegal homes as well. It’s a business and not a bad one at that if you can find donors. Foreign sponsors pay $50, $60 USD (and more) per child, per month. The home operator supports their family with those funds, then cares for the children, in that order. In a country with a per capita income of slightly over $1.00 a day, $60USD goes a long way. We are working on a program to actually monitor these homes for standards, but I’ve got a long way to go to accomplish that, little budget to work with. In the end though, even if we can monitor quality, we cannot stop parents from creating paper orphans when they get so much benefit from doing so. If you want to know if the kids are really orphans, show up at any major holiday and take note of how many are gone.
I intend to own an orphanage when I get older, and can say that not all Orphanages are corrupt as the ones described. The majority of orphanages and children’s homes I have looked to for research are based on the sole principle of creating a better life for the the children in them. Id do think you gave some good advice in investigating further what you donate to, but donating to an orphanage isn’t always a gamble. In my future, the money goes to them.
Kali,
I’m sure most orphanages founder say their orphanages are based on creating a better life for the children, but as the title of this blog states – good intentions are not enough. Meaning well is not the same as doing well. If you intend to own an orphanage one day then I’d suggest you start now learning the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. http://www.iss-ssi.org/2009/index.php?id=25