Why it doesn't help to volunteer at orphanages [PLEASE READ]

Friends, this has been on my heart for some time now, and I felt like I should share with all of you.

So, if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time know, you probably now my heart for missions. Here lately I have really been leaning more toward Medical (in my case Midwifery) Missions, because of this amazing organization I found called Gap Medics.  When I was younger, I was fine with ANY AND ALL TYPES OF VOLUNTEERING. I just wanted to go to different countries and help people!! What would be so harmful in that?? Little did I know that I most likely would not be actually helping by volunteering at an orphanage, and loving n children. After I watched the video below my whole perspective changed. It really made sense. I know that there are orphans who need a place to stay and be fed and educated, but the things I've put below have helped me to understand that Family Based Care is always much better.

WHY WE NEED TO END THE ERA OF ORPHANAGES

Volunteering at Orphanages is harmful to children:

Volunteering in orphanages has become a very popular way to give back when travelling abroad. Interested volunteers can be placed through travel agencies, NGOs, churches and missions groups, schools and universities as well as directly with orphanages themselves. When I flew to Tanzania, there were several large groups of up to 50 Americans all wearing t-shirts from the same mission group who were headed to volunteer for a week or two at an orphanage. At my hotel alone, there were two large groups of Americans that were going to work with the orphanage that was supported by the hotel.

Although initially it may sound like a fantastic idea, many children’s organisations are campaigning against this practice because it is harmful to children who are already quite vulnerable.

The majority of people who want to volunteer in an orphanage (or residential care center) have very good intentions and the best interests of the children at heart. However, they may not realise that many residential care centers that welcome volunteers and allow direct contact with children put children at risk in the following ways:

• Normalizing access to vulnerable children. Residential care centers are a target for those with harmful intentions towards children. Visitors with good intentions normalize the practice of allowing access of unqualified staff to vulnerable children – something that would not be permitted in their own country.
• Disrupted attachment. Children form attachments very quickly, particularly when their own relationships with their families have already been disrupted by institutionalization. Every time a volunteer leaves, children are left behind. This can have a particularly adverse affect as they learn not to trust or invest in relationships. For very young children such disrupted attachments can also have adverse affects on how their brains develop. [this makes SO much sense!]
• Lack of appropriate skills. Most volunteers are not qualified to work with children and have little understanding of the potential of their behavior to negatively impact upon the emotional and social stability of children.

The “Orphanage” Myth” 

Studies have shown that approximately 80% of all children in “orphanages” worldwide have one or more living parent. Most children in “orphanages” are not “orphans” and therefore the term “orphanage” is misleading, conjuring up images of children with no family to care for them.

Instead, we use the term “residential care center” to refer to all places where children stay overnight instead of living with a family, whether it is for a short or long period of time.

There are many reasons why a child may be living in a residential care center. In some cases it is due to neglect, abuse, or abandonment. In others, poverty is a driving factor, and centres are viewed as a way for children to access education, food, and healthcare. In other cases it is due to discrimination and lack of proper support services for the parents of children with physical or intellectual disability. Whatever the reason, all children in a residential care center have faced difficult experiences.

All information above provided by Better Volunteering Better Care/Save the Children UK. 

Instead of supporting volunteering at orphanages, Better Volunteering Better Care, Save the Children UK and a variety of other child protection organizations believe we should work towards finding ways to keep families together and work to alleviate poverty which is one of the main reason why children end up in residential care centers.  For example, the HIV/AIDS epidemic that swept across Africa left many children without a parent or even both parents. Yet poverty led many of these children to be sent to orphanages despite the fact that they had other living relatives who could have cared for them if they had the means.

What you can do to help children instead of volunteering at an orphanage:

• Be an ethical traveller. Help local communities earn a living wage and support their children themselves. Support local businesses and social enterprises.
• Work with organisations that help families stay together. There are organisations that train social workers, support foster families etc. Visit them, learn about them, donate to them, help them (if you have relevant skills and they need someone like you!)
• Go on learning trips. There are a range of organisations that will take you around a country and help you learn about the various social / environmental challenges, and the ways different organisations are tackling those problems. Learning is the best way to start helping.
• Think about up-skilling. Train to be a foreign language teacher, or a social worker and then see how you can support a local organisation. it’s always better to support local staff than to provide service directly to kids yourself, as really you want kids to be building long-term relationships with local caregivers and teachers

^ all of the above was copied and pasted from another website^

I think it is important for people who want to go on mission trips, to fully understand all of the above. I know there are definitely real orphans, but we just need to be careful. 

What do you think about all of this?
Are you interested in Medical stuff? (like me :D)