A TED Talk on the Tragedy of Orphanages

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Thanks for stopping by! Whatever Things Are True covers politics, policy, and parenting in international adoption. Too often, the way we talk about international adoption reminds me of that old fable about The Blind Men and the Elephant – we tend to confuse one small part of the animal for the whole beast. Although I’m the mother of three via international adoption, I try to take a child-centered approach to adoption issues. I hope you’ll stick around and share your thoughts, too.

For More About International Adoption

All the Social Orphans
Suffolk University Law Professor Sara Dillon on International Children's Rights and Social Orphan Policy
Center for Adoption Policy
Center for Adoption Policy provides research, analysis, advice and education to practitioners and the public about current legislation and practices governing ethical domestic and intercountry adoption in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute
Educates federal policy makers about the need for adoption reform, and coordinates efforts of policy makers and public groups to improve the lives of children.
Harvard Law School Child Advocacy Program
The Child Advocacy Program (CAP) at Harvard Law School is committed to advancing children's interests through facilitating productive interaction between academia and the world of policy and practice, and through training generations of students to contribute in their future careers to law reform and social change.
Joint Council on International Children's Services
Adoption advocacy organization comprised of adoption agencies.

November 10, 2012

In this TED talk from May 2012, Georgette Mulheir, CEO of JK Rowling's children's charity, Lumos, discusses the dangers of institutionalization for children. I was struck by Mulheir's point that the three main reasons children end up in orphanages are:

poverty -- parents wanting to parent, but lacking financial resources to provide for their children

disability -- parents wanting to parent, but unable to afford and/or access medical care and special resources for a child with an illness or disabling condition

ethnicity -- minority groups in every country face discrimination, which undercuts economic stability and the ability to care for children. In Europe, for example, this has lead to the disproportionate institutionalization of Roma children

Mulheir has worked with children in countries around the world, but first became an advocate after seeing the conditions in Romanian institutions following the Romanian revolution of 1989. A commenter at the TED site claims Mulheir has been a long-time opponent of international adoption; in a couple of quick internet searches I couldn't find any statements from her about adoption as a permananency option for kids in need. Her cause, which I think we can all support regardless of our feelings on adoption, appears to be researching the dangerous effects of orphanage care and addressing those issues of poverty, disability and ethnicity that unfairly break biological families apart. She also makes a case for the cost effectiveness of providing families with the resources to stay together vs institutionalizing kids. Preserving families not only protects children and encourages better physical and emotional outcomes for them, it also costs societies less than orphanage care.

Posted at 07:17 AM in Adoption Medicine, Charities, Global Orphan Crisis | Permalink

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Posted by: Online Diploma | November 19, 2012 at 11:36 PM

The risky results of orphanage care and dealing with those issues of hardship, impairment and race that badly break scientific family members apart.

Posted by: Children Playgroup | November 24, 2012 at 02:08 AM

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