Across the world, millions of children are unnecessarily separated from their families.  Many who support orphanages or residential care centers often believe they are providing for children who have no parents or family, however research indicates that this separation is actually driven by poverty .  As we have been privileged to work with amazing partners throughout many nations, we are seeing family reintegration and family strengthening every day to the benefit of many children, families and communities. 

But what does this have to do with the World Day Against Trafficking? 

This year’s theme is “Reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind.”  In the spirit of that theme, we’d like to draw your attention to some victims of trafficking that may be hiding in plain sight: children currently living in orphanages or residential care centers throughout the world. 

While many orphanages or children’s homes operate in good faith, the existence of the orphanage system has allowed a new form of trafficking to emerge.  According to our colleagues at Better Care Network, Orphanage Trafficking is defined as “the recruitment and/or transfer of children to residential childcare facilities for a purpose of exploitation and profit¹.”

This kind of trafficking can be challenging to identify.  As with many forms of trafficking, a corrupt goal is often hidden behind a seemingly sincere offer of help.  Vulnerable families can often be led to believe they are sending their child to an orphanage to receive a superior education or access to a brighter future with better prospects.  Where orphanages are actively recruiting children out of families using deception and even coercion, orphanage trafficking is likely present.

Here are some fast facts on Orphanage Trafficking:

Orphanage Trafficking occurs more often in unregistered children’s homes or residential care centers². This happens when individuals or organisations have opened a home but have not gone through proper licensing procedures with their local and national government.  This presents an enormous risk to children as there is likely far less visibility on the care provided to children in an unregistered home.  New research on orphanage trafficking quotes a social worker in Cambodia on their observations of children in unregistered homes:

“In unregistered orphanages, children are more likely to have been exploited or threatened and are unwilling to talk out of fear. We can see it via the staff’s actions and the children’s reactions. The way the staff speak to the children indicates threats and use of power to make the children afraid. When this is happening, it’s not possible to reintegrate children. It’s important to distinguish when these risks exist. There was one case where the staff were physically abusing the children³.”

Orphanage Trafficking preys upon vulnerable families.  Where poverty, conflict, famine, displacement, or unrest occurs, families are more likely to be susceptible to offers of help that may harm their children in the end.

Orphanage Trafficking has exploitation or financial gain as its intention.  Trafficking Survivor Leader Barma Budha Magar, from Nepal, was placed into an orphanage with her sisters when she was five years old⁴.  Her mother had placed her children into the home on the promise of them receiving food, housing, and education that seemed superior to what she could provide them on her own.  She and her sisters were then sent to another orphanage that seemed better initially.  At this new orphanage, they were not permitted to speak about their biological family and endured repeated physical and mental abuse.  Barma remembers one day that she knew her mother and brother had come to visit her and her sisters, but the staff did not permit them to come inside.  After this, Barma and her sisters were reunified with her mother and brother, and she had a chance to ask her mother what had happened.  It was then she learned her mother had paid the owner of the orphanage 30,000 rupees to admit she and her sisters into the first orphanage, and another 45,000 rupees to send her brother to a children’s home for better education.  Additionally, when Barma and her sisters were sent to the second orphanage, she later learned that the second orphanage had paid for the sisters to come to their home.  She realised she had been trafficked without even knowing it.

Orphanage Trafficking hides behind the facade of the idea of “good” orphanages.  Another Trafficking Survivor Leader, Sinet Chan has shared her story of being trafficked in Cambodia⁵.  Her family was living in significant poverty when her parents both died from HIV/AIDS.  After this, she and her siblings were sent to an unregistered orphanage funded by foreign donations.  Initially, Sinet wondered if this orphanage might present her with a brighter future, but she quickly felt unsafe.  She remembers that she and the other children rarely had enough to eat, despite frequent visits from foreigners who often left large donations behind.  The children were forced to do hard manual labor every day in the fields owned by the orphanage director, who also repeatedly physically abused and raped Sinet and other children, even threatening to kill her if she ever spoke of her treatment there.  Shockingly, even after Sinet reported this abuse to local authorities, nothing was done.  The director continued to run this orphanage and was not charged with any of his many crimes.  A full 12 years would pass before this orphanage was shut down, meaning hundreds of additional children were exposed to this man’s abusive behavior.  Sinet eventually made a formal charge against her perpetrator, but the officials were unwilling to consider her case as trafficking.  She sadly remembers, “they sided with the offender, even though it was their job to protect me.”  Her case reveals an enormous misconception that allows this trafficking and abuse to hide in plain sight⁶.  Officials can often assume that those who run orphanages are good people and are slow to believe they are exploiting children.

Orphanage Trafficking can be fueled by the promise of support from foreign visitors and donors.  The establishment of orphanages that are primarily funded from Global North donor nations has created a system that incentivises higher numbers in children’s homes.  Lumos notes that in Uganda,

“The country saw an increase in the number of children institutions from just over 1,000 in the late 90s to approximately 55,000 now – despite a reduction in numbers of orphans. These orphanages are often built in the tourist ‘hotspots’, driven by international donations and volunteers from countries such as the UK⁷.”

While this paints a dark picture, there is good work being done around the world to combat the underlying conditions that perpetuate this abuse and support those who have survived Orphanage Trafficking.  You can be part of ending Orphanage Trafficking in several ways:

1. Don’t visit orphanages on your next mission trip or overseas adventure. While this may seem like a great way to “give back” to countries you visit, research tells us that this practice harms children in several ways.  Children separated from their families have already endured a significant disruption in their primary attachment.  This is further exacerbated by frequent visitors.  While you’ve likely seen pictures of cute, smiling children at orphanages or heard the stories of how much they loved having visitors, there is often pain beneath those selfies and stories. 
2. If you currently support an orphanage or children’s home, we’d encourage you ask their leaders some questions. Are you confident they are registered with their local and national authorities?  Do they have reporting mechanisms in place to ensure children are truly protected?  Could you potentially help them consider transitioning their model to support children in families instead?
3. Sign and share this petition from our colleagues at Hopeland to help with legislative efforts to formalize the prosecution of these crimes.
4. Commit to learning more about Orphanage Trafficking and the efforts being made to stop this crime. This brief from our colleagues at Better Care Network is a great place to start. Or you can listen to this recent webinar to hear more from brilliant leaders on this topic.

We join all those honouring today as the World Day Against Trafficking.  We share their hope to reach every victim of trafficking and leave no one behind.

As a note, Martin James Foundation specifically requested permission from both Barma and Sinet to share their name and story here.  

¹ See more here: https://bettercarenetwork.org/about-bcn/what-we-do/key-initiatives/global-collaborative-platform/thematic-brief-volunteering-voluntourism-tourism-and-trafficking-in-orphanages

² Nhep R, Deck S, van Doore K, Powell M. Detecting orphanage trafficking and exploitation. Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Jun;152:106813. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106813. Epub 2024 Apr 23. PMID: 38657489.

³ Nhep R, Deck S, van Doore K, Powell M. Detecting orphanage trafficking and exploitation. Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Jun;152:106813. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106813. Epub 2024 Apr 23. PMID: 38657489.

⁴ Hear more of Barma’s story here: https://bettercarenetwork.org/orphanagetrafficking_webinar

⁵ More of Sinet’s story here: https://bettercarenetwork.org/orphanagetrafficking_webinar

⁶ Read more here: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2017/08/23/2003677003

⁷ https://www.wearelumos.org/news-and-media/2019/01/15/ugandan-orphanage-business/#:~:text=The%20country%20saw%20an%20increase,countries%20such%20as%20the%20UK.

Think about answering the same questions repeatedly. What might it be like to share the most terrifying details of your life with a new adult regularly?

Participation, at its most fundamental level, means that at some point, an adult stops to look directly at the child to say, “How are we doing?“

Are we meeting your needs? 

What would you like us to do differently?  

Have you already shared this story elsewhere and would rather not share the details again?  

We must regularly ask for feedback from the children we are serving, and be ready to hear what needs to be adjusted. It means that professionals within the care space must be prepared to learn from the very children they are serving.  We must take deliberate, decisive action based on their feedback to ensure we improve our manner of care.

People with lived experience of care are indeed the experts in their lives and throughout the care reform sector. They may not yet have fancy titles or additional letters to add past their name, but of anyone we know, they have the most important perspective to offer. It’s why we believe we should prioritise asking them for input on the whole system, as well as their own care. It means ensuring people with lived experience a prominent seat at the table while we work to develop services and policies for children, youth and those with care experience. It must be genuine, demonstrated by a willingness to take the time to ensure their participation and perspective are integrated at every decision-making level. Every policy and service will be better for being informed by people with lived experience.

That’s why participation, authentic and genuine participation, is embedded into each of our projects with our valued global partners. Read on to hear how several of them prioritise participation within their programs today.

Global Social Service Workforce Alliance & Child Frontiers

“Five Reasons the Expertise of Children and Young People with Lived Experience of Care Must Take Centre Stage in Care Reform Efforts” 

By Hugh Salmon, Director, Global Social Service Workforce Alliance and Emily Delap, Senior Associate, Child Frontiers 

As countries work to achieve lasting family-based care solutions, children and young people with lived experience of care possess invaluable insights and wisdom. Yet, too often, their perspectives are sidelined or overlooked. The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, Child Frontiers and Martin James Foundation are currently implementing a multi-national project that aims to improve the capacity of the social service workforce to respond to children at risk of family separation by learning directly from those with lived experience of care. 

There are five reasons, in particular, why we consider it imperative that the voices and expertise of children and young people with lived experience of care take centre stage in efforts to strengthen the social service workforce in support of care reform: 

1. Ensuring social services and work practice are grounded in reality: Children and young people who have experienced the care system firsthand possess a unique understanding of its intricacies, challenges, and shortcomings. Sharing these experiences can help identify gaps in services, barriers to access, and areas of social work practice that need improvement. These insights can ensure that the ways we strengthen the social service workforce are rooted in the lived realities of those the workforce aims to serve.
2. Empowerment: By engaging young people with experience in care, we can help foster a sense of belonging and purpose. By providing opportunities for meaningful participation, we also empower young people to become agents of change in improving social work practice in supporting children and families.
3. Informing training and development: Incorporating the insights and expertise of children and young people in care into the training and development of social service workers can greatly enrich the learning experience and provide practical resources for the workers. By sharing their positive and negative experiences, young people can also help shape more effective approaches to service delivery.
4. Advocacy and Policy Influence: The voices of children and young people with lived experience of care can be powerful catalysts for policy change. By following their lead in our advocacy campaigns, we can elevate issues that are otherwise all too often overlooked.
5. Driving Systemic Change: Ultimately, incorporating the expertise of children and young people with lived experience of care is not just about improving the quality of services and working practices—it’s about driving overall systemic change and moving closer to a world in which every child and family can benefit from lasting family-based care solutions.

Click here to learn more about the Strengthening the Social Service Workforce for Family-Based Care project.

Beyond this, Udayan Care has worked to incorporate the perspective and leadership of those who experienced care within their programs. By implementing their feedback and ideas, children served have been empowered to voice their opinions and advocate for their needs. This input has significantly influenced the operation and management of Udayan Care. Further, several youth with care experience are now employed within Udayan Care’s programs, providing crucial insight and leadership.  

New Guidance on Transition – Produced by People with Lived Experience 

Finally, this month, we are celebrating with several of MJF’s partners who collaborated on a new tool, Residential Care Transition Messaging. Leaders, including those with lived experience, from Child’s i Foundation, Forget Me Not, and Better Care Network worked to shape this powerful guide on approaching the transition of residential care models from the perspective of children who spent time in alternative care.   

This guide serves to remind those within care reform of the importance of clear communication with children and young people while a residential care home is being transitioned, noting that “although children and young people are the individuals whose lives are most impacted by transition, they are often rendered bystanders to a process imposed upon them. They may be left to wonder what is happening to them, with little agency to exercise their right to meaningful participation.”  

The guide is crucial for all practitioners involved in any care reform efforts, as it was developed by those who experienced alternative care directly. It contains powerful testimonies from children who were often left with questions.  Researchers noted children were concerned about whether their education support would continue or were confused as to why their “home” was being closed in the first place. The report also highlights the risk of offering disingenuous participation offers, with some children feeling as though their concerns and questions should have been addressed throughout the transition process. To address these concerns, the guide recommends that leaders “clarify the areas in which children and young people will be allowed to make decisions versus the areas in which they will have no choice at all, and the areas in between. Consider not only the developmental age of children and young people but also be mindful of resource limitations.” 

The report concludes with this powerful advice, “Be kind to care leavers. They have been through a lot at a young age.” 

All of us at Martin James Foundation are deeply grateful for the leaders and partners with care experience from whom we learn daily. We are thankful to follow their lead and share their hope that one day, every child will grow up in a safe and loving family.

We are currently seeking volunteers to join our Board of Trustees in the roles of  Trustee and Treasurer.

Who we are

Click here to learn more about the roles. 

Download the Trustee role description.

Download the Treasurer role description.

Please apply below with a cover letter and CV outlining what experience you can bring to the role by 1 October 2022.

If you are interested, we would love to connect with you. If you have questions or would like further information. Please reach out at info@martinjames.foundation