As in years past, some recipients of CNN’s 2015 Heroes Awards included “ill-advised but well-meaning” people who have been involved in building and operating orphanages in developing countries. By including those running orphanages among its recipients, CNN is perpetuating the incorrect idea that orphanages are a safe place for children.
Research clearly demonstrates that children living in institutional settings suffer greatly, especially when those children are under three years old. Babies need a one-on-one caregiver in order for their brains to develop properly, and this level of touch and contact is rarely available in an institutional setting. It is estimated that for every three months a child spends in an orphanage, they lose one month of development.
Disability Rights International (DRI) is a nonprofit organization working to end the human rights abuses committed against institutionalized children, including much-higher rates of physical and sexual abuse affecting these children. Along with the Better Care Network and other organizations, DRI advocates for supporting at-risk families and extended families to keep children at home and in their communities, rather than in orphanages.