Category: History

Children with Parents in ‘Orphanages’

Posted on 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.

Continue reading “Children with Parents in ‘Orphanages’”

How Did Orphanages Spread?

Posted on by Florence

A lot of people think that residential childcare institutions, or ‘orphanages’, are an unavoidable part of life. They think that it is the only way to provide care for children without parents and for children whose parents are unable to care for them. So, it follows, that all countries must have them and that they have been around for as long as settled community living, as we know it, has been in existence. This kind of thinking is illustrated by the headline: “Rwanda Wants to Become Africa’s First Orphanage-Free Country: Here’s How”. While Rwanda’s aim to be orphanage-free is laudable, they will not be the first country.

Residential childcare institutions are not universal, and they certainly are not the only or the best way to provide care to children without parental care. So let’s have a look at how ‘orphanages’ became so widespread and how widespread they are.

Continue reading “How Did Orphanages Spread?”