Christians are the major donors for orphanages internationally, giving around $2.5 billion a year for residential care. But according to a new study, these donations may be contributing to a child trafficking scheme that exploits children for labor and sex.
Rebecca Nhep, the senior technical advisor at Better Care Network, published her research, “The Role of Clientelism in Facilitating Orphanage Trafficking,” last month in the Journal of Human Trafficking. While the study offers insight into unregulated residential care facilities globally, its research focused primarily on orphanages in Cambodia and Myanmar.
The study found that some orphanage directors are motivated by profit and use donations to bring more children into their care and then transfer them to unregulated resident care facilities. There, the directors have power over the children and can exploit them sexually and for labor, the study reported.
This practice, called orphanage trafficking, is a form of child trafficking, the study noted. And Nhep urged Christians to be vigilant about where their donations are going and to consider community-based programs that aim to keep families together.
“There are countless ways for Christians to help end orphanage trafficking and support vulnerable children,” Nhep said in a statement to the Christian Post. “We must start by becoming informed donors and volunteers and directing our support to community-based services for families.”
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How orphanage directors use deception to traffic children
The study noted that deceptive orphanage directors care about “exploitation and profit, rather than those focused on providing genuine care.”
These directors often recruit children by deceiving local impoverished families into sending children to their care, the study said. The directors give families “false promises of better education and opportunities” in exchange for the child’s “long-term institutionalization,” the study said.
Nhep explained further: “The more well-meaning international donors and volunteers give their time and resources to orphanages, the more motivation unscrupulous orphanage operators have to recruit children from vulnerable families.”
After recruiting children, directors or staff will typically lie about the child’s orphan status by falsifying various documents, such as birth certificates, parental death certificates, or abandonment certificates.
This fabrication provides both the necessary criteria for admitting them into residential care and attracts funds from donors looking to sponsor a child in need, the study found.
Additionally, directors regularly deceived donors by creating or asking children to share false stories about themselves, according to the study.
The directors coerce children to cooperate with being portrayed as orphans “for the benefit of donors, voluntourists, and visitors, perpetuating the false narratives of orphanhood presented in donor communications,” the study said.
Social workers urge “children’s rights are going to be violated”
The study was conducted by interviewing 14 qualified social workers from Cambodia and 10 from Myanmar who have supported the “transition or closure” of multiple residential care facilities.
Participants shared testimonies of how they had seen this exploitation take place firsthand.
“In these orphanages, children are subject to the will of the director. If the director is using the orphanage as a business, then the children’s rights are going to be violated,” one participant said.
Another participant noted how directors will target stable families, so the facilities don’t have to treat kids with trauma.
“Directors whose motive is to profit from running an orphanage use clientelist relationships to recruit children from stable middle-class families as part of the strategy as they don’t have challenging behaviors like children who’ve experienced trauma,” the participant said. “It’s easier for the directors to fulfill their goals with these children and maintain the false pretense of an orphanage that helps disadvantaged children.”
Additionally, the study focused on how directors manipulate donations from wealthy politicians to “legitimize illegal activities through a process of formalization,” the study said.
It added, “directors routinely exploited patron-client relationships with mandated authorities or political figures, allowing them to sidestep regulatory measures and evade effective monitoring.”
These political figures often leveraged their gifts to the facilities to gain political support. Directors then used these gifts to coerce leaders to enable the facilities to “operate clandestinely.”
The orphanage trafficking could continue “without fear of consequence” because of this, the study noted.
The study recommends that families in these areas need to be made aware of the child-trafficking risks, the study recommends.
Nhep also noted that donating to orphanages is not the only way to help needy children. She suggested giving resources toward “community-strengthening services that help to keep families together.”
Nhep has more than 18 years of experience in international development and child protection. Her work focuses on advocacy, deinstitutionalization, family-based care, and community-led development.
Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.
4 Responses
That Packard might be worth some money if someone restores it.
There is a Packard in one of the photos. It would cost some money to restore it but that’s one way someone there could make some money.
The is article and the study it cites raise serious concerns about child exploitation in some orphanages.
However, it’s crucial not to overgeneralize all residential care based on the worst cases. While unethical practices must be addressed, not all residential orphanages are harmful, and well-run facilities can provide excellent care for vulnerable children.
Research led by Dr. Kathryn Whetten at Duke University, through the Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) studies, offers a more balanced view. These comprehensive, multi-country studies span over 10 years and rigorously compare outcomes for children in different care settings, including family-based and residential care. Dr. Whetten’s research shows that children in well-structured, family-style residential settings often do as well as, or even better than, those in foster or extended family care. The key factor is the quality of care, not the type.
In well-run residential programs, children receive stable, nurturing environments, consistent caregivers, and essential emotional and educational support. Whetten’s research, one of the most rigorous on the subject, suggests that residential care can be highly effective, particularly in regions where community-based care options are limited or weak.
My experience as director of Asia’s Hope in India, Cambodia and Thailand confirms the POFO studies’ observations.
Overgeneralizing all residential care as harmful risks stigmatizing effective, ethical programs. Instead, we should focus on improving oversight and ensuring that all orphan care — whether residential or family-based — prioritizes the well-being of children. The best available research underscores the fact that residential care, when done right, can be a positive, even life-saving option for many orphaned children.
Thank you Mr. Mc Collum. It is dangerous to overgeneralize which can lead to mistaken presumption. When Canada deinstitutionalized residential care for mental health clients, they were not prepared for life outside leading countless to addiction and homelessness. While orphans are not in the same category, there are risks as well if only family based care is offered. You are right on when you say QUALITY of care. (The notion of using orphanages as a source for child trafficking is beyond comprehension.)