Orphanage Tourism, Voluntourism and Trafficking

A growing evidence base has consistently highlighted the negative impact on children of living in institutional care such as orphanages – especially when parents or close family members are still living nearby. The increasing trend in volunteering in or visiting these facilities compounds the issue and the impact on children. Not only does it encourage the expansion of orphanages, but it also makes children vulnerable to abuse in those areas where regulation is lax, creates attachment problems in children who become attached to short-term visitors, and can heighten the risk for unregulated inter-country adoption by well-intentioned volunteers who form a bond with a child and want to take them home.

This section highlights resources focused on international volunteering, tourism, and donations in residential care centres.

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Eric Hartman, Richard Kiely, Christopher Boettcher, and Jessica Friedrichs - Stylus Publishing, LLC,

This book gathers and develops theoretical insights and practical tools to support ethical global learning through community-campus partnerships like those described in its pages. The book outlines some of the risks of global service learning, including the harmful impacts of orphanage volunteering.

U.S. State Department,

This year's Trafficking in Persons Report includes a section on child institutionalization and human trafficking.

Faith to Action Initiative,

The Short-Term Missions: Guidance to Support Orphans and Vulnerable Children is a comprehensive resource that provides guidance and better practice standards for short-term missions to ensure positive outcomes for vulnerable children, their families, and their communities. 

ChildSafe Movement and G Adventures,

The Child Welfare and the Travel Industry: Global Good Practice Guidelines have been developed to provide a common understanding of child welfare issues throughout the travel industry and to provide all travel businesses with guidance to prevent all forms of exploitation and abuse of children that could be related to travelers and the tourism industry.

Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO),

These principles have been developed and approved by the Christian Alliance for Orphans in an effort to empower every church, organization, and volunteer participating in short-term missions to be more thoughtful and effective, particularly in respect to vulnerable children.

Benali, Amira - Université de Genève. Thèse,

This dissertation is composed of four papers. It builds on the postcolonial and post-development theories to provide a critical and a multifaceted approach to understand volunteer tourism as a poverty business.

Save the Children Australia, World Challenge, ALTO Global Consulting, ReThink Orphanages,

The resources in this packet have been developed to support Australian schools to navigate the complexities of engagement with orphanages and residential care institutions overseas as part of service learning and international study programs.

Kate va Doore, Andrea Nave, Emmalene Travers - Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism,

This expert paper by Forget Me Not Australia was published as a part of the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism and it presents as a case study the story of the organization from its founding to its current work. 

Julia Hanel, Masters Thesis for Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development,

This thesis focused on the two questions ‘What is the current situation on orphanage tourism in Myanmar?’ and ‘What are the causes of orphanage tourism?’.

Myanmar Responsible Tourism Institute, Hanns Seidel Foundation, and Myanmar's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism,

This guidance document, developed by the Myanmar Responsible Tourism Institute, Hanns Seidel Foundation, and Myanmar's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, offers guidance to those in the tourism sector on how to protect children in institutions.