Church leaders in Kenya give qualified support for plan to close orphanages
Nairobi, Kenya RNS Amid a growing push among child welfare organisations to reunite families rather than keep children in institutional homes, Kenyan authorities are set to adopt a new national program that will phase out traditional orphanages over the next decade. Church leaders in the country, whose denominations run hundreds of orphanages, have expressed support […]
Reuniting families: 30,000 Haitian kids live in private orphanages. Officials want to shutter them
DÁNICA COTO, of Associated Press, reports on efforts to reunite so-called “poverty orphans” with their families…
Northern Ireland child abuse victims get formal government apology
London, UK AP The Northern Ireland Government issued a formal apology on Friday to people who were abused in orphanages and children’s homes, telling them that “the state let you down.” Ministers from all five political parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly read out apologies to survivors gathered at the Stormont government buildings near Belfast. […]
POSTCARDS: CHURCH IN BALI EMPOWERS YOUTH TO BREAK CYCLE OF POVERTY
IVARS KUPCIS, in an article first published on the World Council of Churches’ website, reports from the Indonesian island of Bali…
ORPHANAGES: CALLS MOUNT TO STOP EXPLOITATION OF POOR CHILDREN TO LURE TOURISTS, MONEY
EMMA BATHA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on growing moves to address “orphan trafficking” around the world…
Stigma, poverty leave ‘cursed’ disabled children neglected in Kenya’s orphanages
Thomson Reuters Foundation At a dilapidated orphanage on the outskirts of eastern Nairobi, children with twisted limbs and clawed hands are slumped in wheelchairs, lie foetal-like on mattresses on the floor, or sit in chairs rocking back and forth repeatedly. The children – ranging from 3 to 19 years old – are devoid of attention […]
Guatemala’s orphanage children caged, abused – report
Thomson Reuters Foundation Children living in orphanages in Guatemala suffer physical abuse, with some locked in cages, researchers said on Monday in a report calling for improving ways of keeping children with their families. “Serious and pervasive abuses” were found in 13 private and government-run orphanages across the country visited by the Disability Rights International, […]
Australia vows to fight trafficking for orphanage tourism in South-East Asia
Thomson Reuters Foundation Australia is cracking down on so-called orphanage tourism to prevent trafficking of children in South-East Asia, trying to tame demand from tourists wanting to do good, top politicians said on Monday. Children in countries such as Cambodia are taken from their homes and put into orphanages to attract donations and support from […]
Australia moves to curb trafficking in overseas orphanages
Thomson Reuters Foundation Australia on Thursday launched a campaign to stop “orphanage tourism”, which advocacy groups say has been used to exploit and traffic children in some of the world’s poorest countries. The United Nations and non-profit groups including Save the Children have warned that kids in countries like Cambodia have been taken from their homes […]