Volunteering company cuts ties to overseas orphanages over child-trafficking fears
7 November 2017
A major volunteering company is severing all links with overseas orphanages, citing fears of child trafficking and exploitation.

The announcement, made by Projects Abroad, is a significant turning point in the campaign against orphanage tourism, which has built momentum in Australia in recent months as the government considers introducing a modern slavery act.

Friends International, a child-focused not-for-profit, estimates as many as 80% of children in orphanages are so-called “paper orphans” – children with at least one living parent.
They are often exploited to attract tourist dollars, and can be subjected to abuse and forced labour, while deprived of food, education and safety.

The orphanage industry is propped up by well-meaning westerners, through donations, volunteering placements and tourism. In south-east Asia, Australia is one of the biggest contributors to the continued existence of orphanages, according to Unicef.

Now, one of the biggest “voluntourism” companies in the world, Projects Abroad, has announced it will no longer send any of its volunteers to orphanages in developing nations.

The company has thousands of volunteers working across 30 countries, who will instead now focus their efforts in community-based childcare, which allows children to remain in their own communities and maintain valuable familial connections

In countries like Cambodia, orphanages are a relatively recent phenomenon, which have increased in number even as the country becomes increasingly developed.
They have replaced more traditional forms of kinship and community care, and unscrupulous orphanage directors use the promise of a better life to lure children away from poor families.
Campaigners are attempting to divert the money spent by westerners away from orphanages, towards kinship and community care.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... king-fears