This article, written by Professor Andy Bilson and published in the UK's Telegraph, highlights a new campaign launched by Hope and Homes for Children called 'End the Silence.' The campaign is designed to raise awareness on the effects of institutionalization on children, and to raise funding for the organization's ndeinstitionalization efforts ("closing orphanages and finding loving, family based care for children.") In the article, Bilson discusses many of the negative impacts that institutionalization - and, more specifically, a deprivation of nurturing care, laughter, conversation, music, hugs, and affection - has on children’s physical and cognitive development, citing some of the research that has led to current understanding of this issue. "The most gut wrenching sound I’ve ever heard is that of silence in a ward full of children in an orphanage," says Bilson, as "babies have learnt not to cry because they realised no one will comfort them. They're ignored. Forgotten. Silent."
