{"id":11283,"date":"2016-05-14T13:26:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T12:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=11283"},"modified":"2016-05-14T13:26:04","modified_gmt":"2016-05-14T12:26:04","slug":"good-volunteer-not-orphanages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"voluntourism-latest-news\"<\/p>\n

#StopOrphanTrips Blogging Blitz<\/div>
This post is part of a month long #stoporphantrips Blogging Blitz. It was originally published on the Hope and Homes for Children<\/a> website. You can see all the posts and learn more about the campaign on our Orphanage Volunteering special focus page<\/div><\/div>\n

A<\/span>sk yourself this question: would you be happy for a volunteer, who has no experience and has undergone no background checks, to help out at your local school or nursery?<\/p>\n

I think I can guess your answer and yet this is exactly what is happening in children\u2019s institutions around the world, thanks to the growing trend for foreign volunteers to spend time working in orphanages abroad.<\/p>\n

We know that in the right circumstances, volunteer tourism provides significant benefits for both the volunteers and the communities that receive them but we need to be absolutely clear: volunteering in children\u2019s institutions is a bad idea.<\/p>\n

What many volunteers do not know is that the majority of the 8 million or more children who are housed in so-called orphanages around the world today, are not orphans at all. Most are separated from their families because of poverty, disability or discrimination. Once confined to these large and loveless institutions, even babies and very young children are deprived of the vital one-to-one care and attention they need to thrive and develop properly.<\/p>\n

Robust research, conducted over the last 80 years, shows that institutions harm children. The lack of individual love that is characteristic of institutional care, damages children\u2019s emotional, physical and neurological development in ways that can last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

With the growth of volunteer tourism or \u201cvoluntourism\u201d around the world, there is an increasing trend for people, often young and from the West, to spend time helping in institutions for children in less developed parts of the world.<\/p>\n

Many people now see voluntourism as a chance to travel and contribute something to the countries they are visiting but, rather than improving the lives of some of the world\u2019s most vulnerable children, these volunteers risk adding to the damage that institutions inflict on children.<\/p>\n

Voluntourism in orphanages leaves children vulnerable to abuse where child protection regulations are lax, it creates attachment problems in children who become close to short-term visitors and perpetuates the myth that many of these children are orphans in need of adoption.<\/p>\n

In many countries, orphanages are a lucrative business and voluntourism provides a useful income stream. This, in turn, encourages the expansion of these harmful institutions. In some countries, children\u2019s institutions are actually treated as tourist attractions, and children are \u201cbused in\u201d, for the benefit of volunteers and visitors.<\/p>\n

For over 20 years, Hope and Homes for Children has worked to reform child protection systems around the world and find families for children who are confined to institutional care. We are world experts in closing so-called orphanages and finding alternative, family based care for children.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Hope and Homes for Children joined the multi-agency initiative,Better Volunteering, Better Care, set up by the Better Care Network andSave the Children UK to share experience and highlight the problem of voluntourism in institutions for children.<\/p>\n

We have also endorsed the Better Volunteering Better Care position paper, and we are proud to support BVBC\u2019s current month-long blogging campaign to raise awareness about this issue among the travel community.<\/p>\n

You can find out more about the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign to #StopOrphanTrips here, and sign the petition here.<\/p>\n

Our aim is not to discourage volunteering abroad but to alert people to the risk of volunteering in children\u2019s institutions where they may, in fact, do more harm than good.<\/p>\n

Dr Delia Pop is Director of Programmes and Global Advocacy at Hope and Homes for Children.<\/p>\n

Get Involved<\/h2>\n

If everyone who reads this can share at least one blog post in the month \u2014 if not more \u2014 there\u2019s a chance to make a tremendous impact. If something shocks you, if you learn something, if something\u2019s interesting or appalling, share it to your networks and raise awareness across global sectors and bring about the change required to #StopOrphanTrips. Don\u2019t forget to include the hashtag!<\/p>\n

Share this article and use\u00a0the hashtag #StopOrphanTrips.<\/p>\n

Sign the Avaaz petition<\/a> calling for travel operators to remove orphanage volunteering placements from their websites by the next Responsible Tourism day at the World Travel Market in London in November 2016. Don\u2019t forget to share it and include the hashtag #StopOrphanTrips, too!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a volunteer tourism operator who is happy to #StopOrphanTrips, then please let us get in touch \u2013 we\u2019d love to highlight your support of the campaign. For more information, visit\u00a0www.bettervolunteeringbettercare.org<\/a>, and if you want to learn more or get involved, email\u00a0volunteering@bettercarenetwork.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hope and Homes for Children work to transform outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Executive Director Delia Pop discusses the impact of volunteering in orphanages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":11284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[675,138,535],"tags":[158,134],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hope and Homes for Children transforms outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Delia Pop discusses the impact of orphanage volunteering\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hope and Homes for Children transforms outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Delia Pop discusses the impact of orphanage volunteering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/voluntourism-latest-news.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"332\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Delia Pop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Travindy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Delia Pop\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Delia Pop\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb33f20bcffb7adafe6bc87fd0fdff0d\"},\"headline\":\"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\"},\"wordCount\":811,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"orphanages\",\"volunteering\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Corporate Responsibility\",\"Human Rights\",\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Hope and Homes for Children transforms outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Delia Pop discusses the impact of orphanage volunteering\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"description\":\"sustainable tourism consulting, news and resources\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Travindy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Travindy\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Travindy\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb33f20bcffb7adafe6bc87fd0fdff0d\",\"name\":\"Delia Pop\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb85b44711ddefcea82811be059de5cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb85b44711ddefcea82811be059de5cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Delia Pop\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/delia-pop\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages","description":"Hope and Homes for Children transforms outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Delia Pop discusses the impact of orphanage volunteering","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages","og_description":"Hope and Homes for Children transforms outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Delia Pop discusses the impact of orphanage volunteering","og_url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/","og_site_name":"Travindy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","article_published_time":"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":530,"height":332,"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/voluntourism-latest-news.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Delia Pop","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Travindy","twitter_site":"@Travindy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Delia Pop","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/"},"author":{"name":"Delia Pop","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb33f20bcffb7adafe6bc87fd0fdff0d"},"headline":"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages","datePublished":"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/"},"wordCount":811,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["orphanages","volunteering"],"articleSection":["Corporate Responsibility","Human Rights","Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/","name":"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-14T12:26:04+00:00","description":"Hope and Homes for Children transforms outdated childcare systems into ones based on family care. Delia Pop discusses the impact of orphanage volunteering","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/good-volunteer-not-orphanages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It\u2019s good to volunteer \u2013 but not in orphanages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/","name":"Travindy","description":"sustainable tourism consulting, news and resources","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Travindy","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cropped-travindy-logo-square.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Travindy"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Travindy"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb33f20bcffb7adafe6bc87fd0fdff0d","name":"Delia Pop","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb85b44711ddefcea82811be059de5cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb85b44711ddefcea82811be059de5cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Delia Pop"},"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/delia-pop\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}