Global Orphanages Under Spotlight

GivingTracker | People have a vision of orphanages as a place of safe haven for poor children. One of the sidebar stories of the Haitian earthquake is not only the the details concerning the 10 American missionaries, led by Laura Silsby, who are held in Haitian jails for trying to take Haitian to ‘safe haven’.

Reality is that many orphanages in Haiti and elsewhere in the world are almost inhabitable, with no real means of educating children or providing basic medical care. Many children become hostages in schemes that enslave them as servants of sex workers.

Orphanges like SOS Children’s Villages around the world provide real services for kids. But the biggest story about orphanages in Haiti may reveal a global network of unsafe drop off places for poor children, who aren’t orphans at all. The NYTimes takes the first of many in-depth looks at a situation of global and epically-terrifying proportions. Read Bleak Portrait of Haiti Orphanages Raises Fears.