Myths About Orphans
With all the media attention on orphans, it is easy to think creating orphanages is the best solution to care for children who have lost their parents. But, while orphanages are usually able to provide shelter and food for these children, they are not usually the best option. 
Q: Who are orphans?
A: An orphan is a child age 18 or younger who has lost one or both parents. This definition, from UNICEF, is agreed upon by international organizations. UNICEF estimates there are approximately 143 million orphans worldwide.
Q: Who are highly vulnerable children?
A: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) defines highly vulnerable children as those "under age 18 whose safety, well-being, or development is at significant risk due to inadequate care, protection, or access to essential services." They include orphans as well as children who have HIV/AIDS or are suspected of having HIV; are directly affected by armed conflict; live outside of family care; or in some other way have suffered from a collapse of traditional social safety nets in their communities.
USAID indicates this vulnerability might be the result of
- natural disasters, such as tsunamis;
- complex emergencies (including civil conflicts), such as the one in Darfur;
- epidemic disease - particularly HIV - or
- extreme poverty.
Q: Who cares for orphans?
A: According to UNICEF, more than 90 percent of all orphans in sub-Saharan Africa are cared for by their surviving parent, extended families, and communities. More often than not, it is families and communities who care for children when their parents cannot.
Q: What risks threaten orphans and vulnerable children?
A: With the loss of one or both parents goes a child’s first line of defense and protection. In many cases, extended families or others in the community take these children in, but are already stretched thin by burdens on their own families. According to UNICEF, orphans and vulnerable children can face:
- economic hardship;
- lack of love, attention, and affection;
- withdrawal from school;
- psychological distress;
- loss of inheritance;
- increased abuse and risk of HIV infection;
- malnutrition and illness; and
- stigma, discrimination, and isolation.
Q: What about orphanages?
A: The number of orphans and highly vulnerable children, and the challenges facing them, exist on such a massive scale that only solutions on the same scale will truly make change possible. Like adoption, orphanages simply cannot be built on the scale needed to care for all the world’s orphans. In 2004, UNCIEF noted that
"The magnitude of orphans due to HIV/AIDS is so large that an institutional response - besides not being in the best interest of the child - will never be the answer. Orphanages for more than 14 million [children orphaned by HIV/AIDS at that time] simply cannot be built and sustained."
Even if it were possible, studies over the last 30 years have consistently shown that family and community care, rather than institutionalization, is not only a more cost-effective solution, but is significantly better for child development.
Research from a World Bank study in Tanzania indicates that for the cost of keeping one child in an orphanage, six or more can be supported to live in families.
But the benefits of being raised in a family and a community go beyond cost. According to Save the Children UK,
"Children raised in institutional care often have difficulty forming meaningful, lasting relationships. Inadequate staff-to-child ratios, the lack of training for caretakers and high staff turnover negatively affect the mental and physical development of children, especially very young children."
The Firelight Foundation noted in their report From Faith to Action that
"most donors have a concrete image of what an orphanage looks like. An orphanage is a physical place that can be seen, touched, and visited. In contrast, most donors are not familiar with the programs that help keep children in families. These preventive programs are harder to immediately see and describe, but their benefits can be far greater and they are able to reach many more children."
Groups like the Firelight Foundation and the Better Care Network are working to help children stay in communities and families. Others, like Whole Child International, are working with orphanages to ensure children get love, attention, and the best care possible for the duration of their stay.
Orphanages can, in certain circumstances, be an appropriate short-term solution for some children. For example, babies who have been abandoned at or shortly after birth and cannot speak for themselves might need temporary institutional care. This setting provides an opportunity to get the baby any medical care he or she might need and to determine whether there are family members who are willing and able to care for the child, or if adoptive homes need to be found. New Life Home Trust in Kenya is one organization specifically tending to these most vulnerable children’s needs. This is an example of one of the small number of cases where orphanages are needed, but they are not an overall solution to the crisis.
Links:
Orphans and Vulnerable Children Issue page
