This section includes news articles, blogs, and other media posts about orphanage volunteering.
Cambodia: child protection workers call for end to ‘orphanage tourism’
This article highlights the dangers of orphanage volunteering and explains why NGOs and other child protection agencies urge against volunteering in orphanages in Cambodia.
Nepal: The Orphan Business
This documentary produced for Channel 4 Television goes undercover to explore the reality behind 'Voluntourism' in Nepal.
WTM, Orphanages and Taking Responsibility
In his blog post, Harold Goodwin explains how learning about the unintended negative impacts of orphanage volunteering and how the decision was made to remove orphanage volunteering trips from responsibletravel.com’ offerings.
Viewpoint: Is gap year volunteering a bad thing?
In this opinion piece, Daniela Papi writes about her personal experience as an international volunteer and how she came to realize the potential detrimental effects her volunteer work had on the communities with whom she worked.
Why You Should Say No to Orphanage Tourism (And Tell All Tour Companies to Do the Same)
In her entry on the Huffington Post Blog, Daniela Papi writes about the discussions that took place at the World Travel Mart Responsible Tourism Day related to child protection and orphanage tourism.
Cambodia's Orphanage Business
Throughout Cambodia well-intentioned volunteers have helped to create a surge in the number of residential care homes as impoverished parents are tempted into giving up their children in response to promises of a Western-style upbringing and education. Despite a period of prosperity in the country, the number of children in orphanages has more than doubled in the past decade, and over 70 per cent of the estimated 10,000 'orphans' have at least one living parent.
Cambodia’s Orphanage Business
This People & Power documentary from Al Jazeera investigates the orphanage tourism industry in Cambodia.
Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do
"In Cambodia, as in other parts of the globe, orphanages are a booming business trading on guilt," writes Ian Birrell in this article for the Guardian that discusses the harms of orphanage tourism.
Cambodia’s Scam Orphanages
This video from the New York Times shines a light on the orphanage tourism industry in Cambodia.