When popular philanthropist “MrBeast,” also known as Jimmy Donaldson, announced a mission “to make the world a better place” by supporting orphanages worldwide in February, he got nearly five million views on YouTube in just a fortnight.
But as pointed out by NGO Lumos, who work to end the dangers of institutionalization and help children be reunited with family, “decades of scientific research shows that children need to grow up in a safe and loving environment, surrounded by family to help them thrive.”
“It can be challenging to undo some of the misconceptions around orphanages,” Lucy Halton, advocacy and campaigns manager at Lumos, told Devex in an email. “Traditional positive views of orphanages as helping children run deep, and require hard work to challenge.”