{"id":11299,"date":"2016-05-14T14:23:51","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T13:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=11299"},"modified":"2016-05-14T14:24:51","modified_gmt":"2016-05-14T13:24:51","slug":"11299","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/","title":{"rendered":"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Picmonkey-orphanage-voluntourism-header\"<\/p>\n

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

I<\/span>\u2019ve written about orphanage voluntourism before \u2013 in my post Orphanage voluntourism holidays<\/a>. As an adoptive mother, I\u2019m passionate about this subject, as anyone who\u2019s ever\u00a0 talked to me about volunteering abroad will know. I\u2019m writing about it again, because The Better Volunteering Better Care Network<\/a>\u00a0have asked me to support their #StopOrphanTrips campaign to raise awareness of the great harm which is caused by volunteers visiting orphanages.<\/p>\n

So, here goes.<\/p>\n

Here are ten big reasons why you, your children, your friends, relations and anyone else that you know should never, ever visit an orphanage as a volunteer.*<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Most \u2018orphans\u2019 living in orphanages worldwide aren\u2019t orphans.<\/li>\n
  2. Volunteering in such settings encourages the separation of children from their families.<\/li>\n
  3. International volunteering in residential care centres is creating a demand for \u2018orphanages\u2019 and \u2018orphans\u2019: kids are becoming a commodity.<\/li>\n
  4. If children can\u2019t live with their parents, experts agree that the best place for them is with another family, rather than in residential care. That\u2019s why most kids who can\u2019t live with their birth families in the UK are fostered or adopted.<\/li>\n
  5. Some residential care centres are being run as businesses, generating money from volunteers, resulting in a demand for \u2018orphans\u2019.<\/li>\n
  6. There\u2019s evidence that some residential care centres are linked to child trafficking.<\/li>\n
  7. Even though you may have good intentions towards children, not everyone is as well-intentioned as you. Your visit normalises access to children by unqualified staff.*<\/li>\n
  8. Being exposed to an ever-changing parade of visiting foreign adults has a negative effect on children. For example, kids may form attachments to volunteers, and then feel abandoned. Or they may lose the ability to form healthy attachments. Or they may become confused about their culture and identity. And so on.<\/li>\n
  9. If you want to volunteer to help children, there are plenty of groups in your own country who would welcome your support, such as schools, sports clubs and youth groups. You\u2019ll have to undergo child protection checks first though. Which is as it should be.<\/li>\n
  10. Would you be happy for your child to be away from you and in close contact with random, unqualified foreign strangers who\u2019ve been through no checks? Nor would I.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    *unless you\u2019re a qualified, fully-vetted doctor, nurse, teacher, psychotherapist or other professional who can actually help children. In which case, I\u2019m sure that you know far more about it than I do, and well done you for using your skills and expertise to help these kids.<\/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 on its original site<\/a>\u00a0and use\u00a0the hashtag #StopOrphanTrips.<\/p>\n

    Sign the Avaaz petition\u00a0<\/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":"

    The Family travel blogger explains why she is supporting the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":11300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[675,138,535],"tags":[158,134],"yoast_head":"\n10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Family travel blogger explains why she suppors the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end\" \/>\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\/11299\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Family travel blogger explains why she suppors the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/\" \/>\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=\"2016-05-14T13:23:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-14T13:24:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Picmonkey-orphanage-voluntourism-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gretta Schifano\" \/>\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=\"Gretta Schifano\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 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\/11299\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gretta Schifano\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8832ba77647d8c382d4f4c163a284f34\"},\"headline\":\"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-14T13:23:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-14T13:24:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/\"},\"wordCount\":653,\"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\/11299\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/\",\"name\":\"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-14T13:23:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-14T13:24:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Family travel blogger explains why she suppors the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop\"}]},{\"@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\/8832ba77647d8c382d4f4c163a284f34\",\"name\":\"Gretta Schifano\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2af8fed8f1317f3305d0c9d57c2f6346?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2af8fed8f1317f3305d0c9d57c2f6346?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gretta Schifano\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/gretta-schifano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop","description":"The Family travel blogger explains why she suppors the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end","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\/11299\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop","og_description":"The Family travel blogger explains why she suppors the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end","og_url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/","og_site_name":"Travindy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travindy","article_published_time":"2016-05-14T13:23:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-14T13:24:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":740,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Picmonkey-orphanage-voluntourism-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gretta Schifano","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Travindy","twitter_site":"@Travindy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gretta Schifano","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/"},"author":{"name":"Gretta Schifano","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8832ba77647d8c382d4f4c163a284f34"},"headline":"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop","datePublished":"2016-05-14T13:23:51+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-14T13:24:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/"},"wordCount":653,"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\/11299\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/","url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/","name":"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-14T13:23:51+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-14T13:24:51+00:00","description":"The Family travel blogger explains why she suppors the Better Volunteering Better Care campaign, and why orphanage voluntourism must be brought to and end","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/11299\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 reasons why orphanage voluntourism must stop"}]},{"@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\/8832ba77647d8c382d4f4c163a284f34","name":"Gretta Schifano","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2af8fed8f1317f3305d0c9d57c2f6346?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2af8fed8f1317f3305d0c9d57c2f6346?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gretta Schifano"},"url":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/author\/gretta-schifano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299"}],"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\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}