The Reality
- POVERTY, not death is the #1 reason children are separated from their parents.
- Worldwide, approximately 150 million children are classified as “orphans” with 5 to 8 million of them living in an orphanage, children’s home, or children’s village.
- 80 – 90% of them have a living parent or relative.
- Compared to their peers, children raised in institutional settings are ten times more likely to engage in prostitution, forty times more likely to get a criminal record, and 500 times more likely to commit suicide.
- Because poverty breaks families, an estimated 76,000 children are living on the streets in Sierra Leone where the average family lives on less than $1.90 per day.
It doesn’t have to be that way!
Compassionate people are eager to help suffering kids. Sponsoring a child in an orphanage has always seemed like the right choice, but now there is a better way! It reduces the problems kids face when they age-out and leave the orphanage. Surprisingly, it is less expensive too. It costs six to ten times as much to care for a child in an orphanage as in a family. As far back as 1990, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stated:
The child shall . . . have . . . as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.
The movement to reintegrate orphans with their biological families or strong foster families is taking hold around the world. It’s hard work, but it’s happening. In partnership with Child and Family Permanency Services and Understanding Works, we are building a bridge for vulnerable children to a permanent family and a better future.
We learned the hard way.
Several years ago, we ran a child sponsorship program for a small children’s home in Sierra Leone. Our donors invested their hearts along with their money to care for the kids, and some of them visited the home.
We were slow to discover the degree of corruption and exploitation that was taking place. It was painful, but we learned hard lessons. Recently, we found four of the kids and helped them complete vocational training at a business and technical college. The tall boy in the center of the photo is now working as an electrical installer.
We don’t know what happened to Phillip or Mohammed or most of the other kids, but through The Bridge, we can help families in Sierra Leone care for vulnerable children, who are often severely traumatized. We’re excited about finally having a way to get kids safely home.