I am currently getting my masters in International Community Development. Our classes focus heavily on developmental work with a large emphasis on the voice of the local people, and how we can partner with them to produce sustainable and effective change in their communities. This involves looking at culture, poverty traps, globalization, fund development, among other things.
My focus for my thesis is Alternative Orphan Care models.
So you may be asking, the alternative to what?
I mostly mean the alternative to institutional care (orphanages) and international adoption.
Under the umbrella of alternative care is family based care and family preservation. These are efforts made towards strengthening families to prevent separation and promote reintegration. Many "orphans" are not in fact orphaned by the loss of parents, but by separation from their families due to lack of resources. It's estimated that 80% of the 150 million+ orphaned have a living family member.
In 2010, UNICEF published "The Guidelines to Alternative Care of Children" which details the efforts that should be made towards caring for orphaned and vulnerable children.
They state:
"The family being the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth, well-being and protection of children, efforts should primarily be directed to enabling the child to remain in or return to the care of his/her parent, or when appropriate, other close family members. The State should ensure that families have access to forms of support in the caregiving role."We all know that children belong in families. To help families thrive supports the child, the family and the community at large. There is a widely accepted "continuum of care" with the family unit being the most ideal then moving through kinship care (extended family or close community members), foster care, adoption and then group homes/orphanages being least ideal. If supporting families or reuniting families is not possible, then you move through the continuum until you find safe and supported placement of children.
So why not orphanages and adoption?
Institutional Care
Orphanages have been widely used in orphan care efforts, and though there are times they have stood in the gap, there are many issues that have arisen. The following statements are not true of all orphanages, but extreme care and discernment should be used moving forward with institutional care projects. Faith to Action breaks this down more here.
Here are some things that have been found:
- They are expensive
- They are not creating sustainable change in the community or stopping the cycle of orphans
- Children often lack holistic development and care
- Children age out without skills and development to thrive in society
- The implementation creates a culture of dependency on these institutions, and they are seen as "ideal" so families abandon their children in hope that the orphanage can provide for their child
- There is stigma and isolation in being separated from community
- Orphanages are "fund-able" so many governments and people take advantage of people's giving (as in, orphanages are built to get money and most of the funds are not going to the children)
- A gateway to trafficking children
International Adoption
Adoption is beautiful, redemptive and needed at times. I will not discredit this. But before an adoption is an option, you must ensure the child has moved through the continuum of receiving community based care. If all options have been exhausted, they are a great candidate for adoption. The biggest need currently is for people willing to adopt children with special needs, older children and sibling pairs.
The bigger picture of international adoption is that:
- With 150 million+ orphans, adoption alone will not put a dent in this crisis
- Adoption has extreme life-long implications on a child in their development and identity (though these can be overcome)
- It is expensive (how can those resources go further?)
- Unethical practices mean that some adoptions are used as a form of trafficking (make sure you investigate your adoptions and guarantee they are being performed ethically)
- Like orphanages, it creates this image of the ideal and parents abandon children in hopes to give them a better future in the US.
More details over on this blog post: Why international adoption is not the answer.
So what is the alternative?
Kinship Care. Foster Care. Inter-country adoption. Small family-style group homes: Empowering communities to be able to care for their orphaned children. Keeping the child as close to their original context (while still being safe) in order to not disrupt their identity or social life and to facilitate potential reintegration with his/her family. Not only that, but if we believe that children are the next generation, then having children who are invested in their communities mean that they can continue to invest in them when they are older. Investing in orphans leads to sustainable change and ends the cycle of orphans.
In my work I want to help advocate for alternative methods and find ways they can be better implemented. During my time in Ethiopia I will be looking at Selamta's unique model (which I will share more about later) to learn about the important elements in their model. Then through my thesis I intend to propose how we can better implement and contextualize alternative care other places.
I know that this is a lot of information (even though I only scratched the surface), but thank you for taking a moment to read my thoughts. I keep hearing people who work in this field say that the world will always have orphans, but that they firmly believe that they could see the end of the orphan crisis in their lifetime. I say, let it be so! I want to be part of this movement that is fighting to ending this crisis.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need any clarity.
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