Better Care Network highlights recent news pieces related to the issue of children's care around the world. These pieces include newspaper articles, interviews, audio or video clips, campaign launches, and more.
Orphanage volunteers often travel abroad with good intentions, but their "help" is contributing to the growing business of orphanage voluntourism, which profits by offering opportunities to meet the demand of Westerners hoping to help children abroad. In turn, children are being separated from their families, receiving improper care, and even exploited in the process.
UNICEF estimates suggest that over 1,100 Rohingya children fleeing violence in western Myanmar have arrived unaccompanied in Bangladesh since August 25.
Momentum is building in Australia to end orphanage volunteering overseas as the voices of advocates presenting the research on institutionalization become more prevalent in the media and big businesses from the tourism industry begin to follow suit.
In this radio interview, Kate van Doore explains why institutional care is harmful to children and how orphanage volunteering perpetuates and contributes to the harm children experience in institutions.
Peru's Congress will debate a proposed law that would install "baby boxes" outside hospitals around the country, which would allow for infants to be abandoned safely and without consequence to the person abandoning the child; critics, however, argue that policy should be addressing the root causes of child abandonment and vulnerability, including family planning, education, and family strengthening programs.
New research explores the traumatic experiences of children adopted from South Korean orphanages by American families following the end of the Korean War.
World Challenge, the world's largest school-based volunteer travel company, will no longer offer orphanage volunteer placements overseas - effective by the end of this month.
A mass grave, where hundreds of former child residents of a child care institution are believed to be buried, has been uncovered in Lanarkshire, southern Scotland.
Rwanda's National Commission for Children (NCC) is implementing the Integrated Child Rights Policy (ICRP), which will continue support for more coordinated and comprehensive services for children, including the national Child Care Reform program and addressing issues pertaining to children living and working on the street.
In this radio interview, Leigh Mathews of ReThink Orphanages discusses why orphanage volunteering is harmful to the development of children and provides tips for those seeking international volunteering opportunities.