Orphans into loving families in Cambodia

As you may remember, Care for Children signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cambodian government in January 2022, signalling the official launch of a new project.

The purpose of this project is to equip the Cambodian government with the knowledge, skills and encouragement to develop their own foster care system. To ensure impact, local ownership and sustainability, our projects follow four key stages over a 12-year period, culminating in the government taking full ownership. This three-year pilot stage (Stage 1 of 4) will work with two orphanages, enabling them to set up their own family placement programmes. This is a vital step in transforming Cambodia’s child welfare system, laying the groundwork for the subsequent roll-out of our training to all government orphanages.

But why is this project needed?

The long-term negative impacts of institutional care have been widely recognised, and research has highlighted the adverse effects on children’s social, psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing. The orphan crisis in Cambodia is well publicized throughout the world. More than 1,600 privately run orphanages have sprung up throughout the country, housing what some government reports estimate to be as many as 50,000 children. 

This is not an effective solution to the orphan crisis for two reasons. Firstly, the majority of these orphanages are unregistered and unregulated, which leaves the children who live in them especially vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Secondly, many poor parents mistakenly believe that if they give up their child to an orphanage, they will receive an education and ultimately have a better life. Without a government run family care system in place, there is a danger that the Cambodian government becomes ever more reliant of this patchwork of unregulated NGOs. Care for Children believes firmly in empowering the government to care for its own orphans and vulnerable children – centralizing a cohesive response which ensures all vulnerable children are kept safe and cared for properly.

By developing two orphanages into best-practice models of foster care, these will serve as inspiration to the government and a blueprint for all other orphanages across Cambodia to follow once this pilot stage is complete and the project enters ‘National roll-out’. We believe that by reforming and strengthening the government system, privately run orphanages will also be obliged by law to reform their practice in favour of local, foster care, but with proven models to replicate and national minimum standards to be monitored against.

The next few months for this project are going to be busy, with training expected to start in November. Make sure you stay connected for updates. Thank you for your support.