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International Orphan Care
https://www.unicef.org/media/orphans
Family strengthening includes providing services that support the family staying intact. This can take the form of a variety of things—economic and income generating activities, parenting skills training, daycare, vocational trainings, psychosocial supports, or any other service or support that can expand a family’s capacity to care well for their children. Family strengthening works to prevent unnecessary separation.
Family-based care is a family environment and a consistent parent or caregiver. If a child has been in institutional care, reintegrating a child with their biological family is ideal, but it might not always be best for the child. In these cases, other family-based options can be utilized, which include kinship care (the child is cared for by relatives), foster care, and adoption. Family-based care also includes family strengthening and prevention efforts, as well as ongoing support. Caring for children in families is 5-10x less expensive than institutional care.
Residential care is any type of care outside of a home environment. This can be large scale orphanages, residential homes for babies, children’s homes, children’s villages, or smaller, family-style group homes. The terms “institution,” “orphanage,” and “residential care” are often used interchangeably.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213416302873
According to the UN, approximately 80% of children in orphanages around the world have at least one living parent, and the overwhelming majority of them have extended family. So then why are children in orphanages if they aren’t actually orphans? Poverty, natural disaster, war, or discrimination all lead to children being placed in residential care. The biggest driver is poverty. Parents often choose to give their children to orphanages because they believe they are doing what’s best and they feel like they have no choice. They may not be able to provide for their child’s basic needs and believe that if they give their child to an orphanage, they will receive education or food. However, in an orphanage, a child does not receive the individualized care and support one receives from a family. The family is the best place for a child long-term, and with support, the majority of families could care for their children.
https://www.crin.org/en/docs/Keeping_Children_Out_of_Harmful_Institutions_Final_20.11.09.pdf
https://www.unicef.org/media/orphans
Over 80 years of medical and social science research has shown that residential care is not healthy long-term for the development of children. Residential care harms children’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. Residential care should only be used on a short-term, temporary basis until you can get a child into a loving, permanent home, and there should always be a plan for exit.
Residential care also doesn’t address the root causes and is a reactive model. Since poverty is the main driver of children ending up in orphanages, separating a child doesn’t actually address the underlying issue that drove the child to be separated. It doesn’t actually solve the problem. Additionally, it is 5-10x more costly than caring for children in families.
Berens, Anne E. and Nelson, Charles A. 2015. The Science of Early Adversity: Is there a Role for Large Institutions in the Care of Vulnerable Children? The Lancet, 386 (9991), pp. 388-398.
Browne, Kevin, Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis, Rebecca Johnson, and Mikael Ostergren. 2006. Overuse of institutional care of children in Europe. BMJ 332: 485–87.
A process where national child protection systems are reformed and residential care is replaced by a range of alternative care services for children that prioritize family preservation and family-based care. The goal is to strengthen families to the point that large-scale residential care is no longer needed.
We would not recommend volunteering with or visiting an orphanage. Children in institutional care have complex histories with deep relational trauma and attachment issues. Volunteers come and go, furthering the already complex attachment issues.
Instead, focus on supporting the staff, caregivers, and community who are caring for and meeting the needs of vulnerable children on a daily basis.
Visit Resources for more guidance on short-term volunteering.
Trauma and TBRI®
Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) is an attachment-based, evidence-based, and trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors.
TBRI® is designed for children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and/or trauma. As a result of their histories, it is difficult for these children to trust the adults in their lives and they often have puzzling behaviors. TBRI® offers practical tools for parents, caregivers, teachers, or anyone who works with children to help meet each child’s unique needs and lead them towards healing. TBRI® is used in homes, residential treatment facilities, group homes, schools, churches, and camps.
Contact us for more information about getting trained.
The experience of multiple, chronic, and prolonged developmentally adverse traumatic events, most often of an interpersonal nature.
Trauma can impact the brain, body, biology, behavior, and belief systems. Trauma triggers the watchdog part of the lower brain called the amygdala to work overtime, constantly asking, “Am I safe? Can I relax?”. When the lower part of the brain is activated, the upper part of the brain where executive functioning occurs cannot be activated. This can result in many puzzling and fear-based behaviors.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says that a trauma-informed approach means that a “program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed:
- Realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery;
- Recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system;
- Responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and
- Seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.”
Understanding how trauma impacts a child’s story and moving from being compassionate to competent is at the heart of being trauma-informed. It’s shifting your perspective to understanding that a child’s behavior isn’t willful disobedience but instead survival strategy. Being trauma-informed means asking, “What happened to you that is causing you to act like this?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?”.
Attachment is an emotional bond between a caregiver and a child. Young children use their attachment figure as a secure base for exploring. When they feel safe and not threatened, they will venture out. When they are tired or afraid, they’ll return to their attachment figure. In times of stress, children look to their attachment figure. Children with secure attachments tend to do better in life. Your own attachment style affects how you parent and how your child responds.
Want to learn even more?
working with vulnerable children and families.
Uganda Facts
- Uganda is the second youngest country in the world , with a median age of 15.7
- Uganda has the 5th highest birth rate in the world , with 40.94 births/1000 population
- 80% of children in orphanages in Uganda have at least one living parent
- 98% of children in orphanages in Uganda have living family
- In Northern Uganda, 51.5% of marriages are child marriages
- In Northern Uganda, the teenage pregnancy rate is 35.3%
