"A boom in the orphanage industry is fuelling concern that many institutions are run for economic benefit, with scant regulation, and are damaging children," says this article from the Guardian. The article describes some of the ways in which institutionalization damages a child's development, including some of the findings of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project.
"Nevertheless," says the article, "in Uganda the orphanage industry is booming." "The financial benefits for someone who decides to run an orphanage can be considerable," says the article. "Therefore, the more children drawn into the orphanage, the more money in the owners’ pockets. This makes children a highly prized commodity in countries like Uganda."
The article also highlights how voluntourism perpetuates the orphanage industry and harms children in Uganda and around the world and describes the global movements to shift away from orphanage voluntourism and to end the institutionalization of children.