Author: Florence

I am the founder of and consultant at Family-Based Solutions. I have started this website and this community, and I am the moderator. I have been involved in alternative care since 2007, having been involved up close in China, Brazil, India, Kenya and Myanmar. Initially I ran another NGO dedicated to improving the chance of survival and the quality of life of children in institutions, over time getting more and more involved with family-based alternatives and community services. In 2018 I folded the previous NGO and founded Family-Based Solutions. You can find more information on what I do now on the other pages of this website.

Illegal Adoption

Posted on December 14, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

On hearing that Guatemala had put a moratorium on inter-country adoptions – meaning they would not allow any until further notice – a lady, who is herself a mother of adopted children, asked me in shock how the country could do such a thing: how could they leave all those poor children stuck there when there were families eager to adopt them? Like voluntourism, inter-country (or international) adoption is something that people tend to get involved in with the very best of intentions, but that has an unexpectedly large capacity for causing grief and trauma, and for damaging children.

Much like voluntourism, inter-country adoption started out as something done by a few people with a genuine wish to give a better life to children with no prospects, then turning into something that became popular, leading to the opening up of a market.

State-Run vs Private-Run Institutions

Posted on December 11, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

In previous blogs a lot of mention is made of the orphanage industry: private individuals opening an ‘orphanage’, recruiting children and pocketing the money given by donors. This is a heinous practice and it must be stopped. However, the focus on this may have given the impression that privately-run institutions are the worst form of institutions around. If only that were true…

Children with Parents in ‘Orphanages’

Posted on December 7, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

Outrage is growing, as more people become aware of the fact that over 80% of children living in so-called orphanages have at least one – and often two – living parent. Even more so when they learn that many of these children were removed from their parents and put in an institution not to protect them, but to make money from their ‘orphan’ status.

The orphanage industry, which causes this situation, is a relatively recent phenomenon. But placing children who have parent willing and able to care for them in institutions is not at all a new thing. It reaches way back in history.

Children with Disabilities

Posted on December 3, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

A five-year-old girl, who weighs 6kg and spend 20-22 hours a day in a baby crib that is a bit too small for her, at an adoption centre where she has lived for over 4 years now. All because she has cerebral palsy.

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. A good time to take a moment to look at the situation of children with disabilities in institutions. Unfortunately, it is not a pretty one.

Additional Risks of Institutionalisation

Posted on November 30, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

In previous blogs, we have looked at children being pulled out of their families to fill ‘orphanages’ to cater to the voluntourism industry and the orphanage industry (HERE and HERE). We have looked at ways children are exploited both knowingly and unknowingly in institutions (HERE). And we have looked at how their growth, health and brain development, as well as their chances of successful independent adult lives is put on the line by not having their essential basic needs met for many years (HERE). That seems like too much to handle already, and it really is.

Unfortunately, there is more. When children live in institutions, they are much, much more vulnerable to abuse than children are in general.

The Real Cost of Institutionalisation

Posted on November 27, 2018November 30, 2018 by Florence

When you start talking about the need to move away from institutional childcare, towards family-based care, you are often confronted with the argument: ‘it is too expensive, we cannot afford to move way from institutions’. It is a very persistent myth that institutional childcare is the most efficient, cost-effective way to care for children without parental care.

Since these days the best way to convince anyone of your point of view is to come with a financial argument, let’s have a look at the real cost of institutionalisation, not just in the moment, but in the long run.

Survival of the Fittest

Posted on November 23, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

In any institution I have visited, where children have lived for many years, in different countries across the world, I am told the same thing: ‘These children are badly behaved, rebellious, ungrateful, disrespectful and disobedient’. I am told this as if they are exceptional, particularly bad children. And I am asked to ‘make them behave better’.

It breaks my heart whenever I am told this, because the behaviour seen in these children is the natural and inevitable result of being raised without attention, affection, a chance to form attachments, proper stimulation and positive role models. As mentioned in the previous blog (which you find HERE), when essential basic needs are not met, brain development does not occur as it should and this causes problems. But also, very simply, there is no supervision or guidance for the children.

What Institutionalisation Does to Children

Posted on November 20, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

Many people consider institutionalisation of children not ideal, but still preferable to the alternatives. This is very unfortunate, and ultimately dangerous. Because it is one of the things that leads to institutionalisation. The reason why many people think institutionalisation is not so bad, is because they think that children’s basic needs are covered when they are put in an institution: they get food, clothes, shelter, they can wash themselves and most of the time they will get education too. The problem is that this covers only half of the basic needs. It covers what I tend to call the child’s practical needs, but not all of their physical and practically none of their psychological needs, which are just as urgent.

Podcast Abandonment: No Other Option

Posted on November 19, 2018March 30, 2024 by Florence

The second podcast in the series and the first introducing stories from real life. Today’s podcast contains two stories, both chosen to illustrate why parents might decide to abandon their children.

The next podcast will appear in 4 weeks.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (15.8MB)

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Exploiting Children

Posted on November 16, 2018September 30, 2019 by Florence

In previous blogs mention has already been made of gross forms of exploitation of children, it comes in the form of the orphanage-industry (as you can read HERE and HERE), illegal adoption and forced labour or begging. These things are relatively easy to recognise and condemn. However, children who live in ‘orphanages’ and other institutions tend to be exploited in more ways. And the scary thing is that those who exploit them, do not always know that that is what they are doing.