The Detrimental Effects of Orphanages on Child Development
Orphanages can be detrimental to children. I have firsthand experience, having lived in one for three long years. Orphanages are often not the best environment for children, and harm, both physical and psychological, can be caused. This harm can even be unintentional, caused by volunteers.
Today, millions of children live and grow up in orphanages without the love and care of a family. In the best scenarios, the children receive food, clothes, a bed, an education, and shelter. However, in the worst cases, they are isolated, starved, abused, sold to sex cartels, and many die or end up in prison once they leave. In all situations, they never receive the love, support, and sense of identity that only a loving family can provide. Hundreds of studies, as well as common sense, tell us that family life is critical to a child’s healthy development. Without it, children suffer great harm and are deeply damaged.
Children who grow up in orphanages are more likely to suffer from poor health, physical underdevelopment, deterioration in brain growth, developmental delays, and emotional attachment disorders. Past abuse can leave children scared of certain items, like a belt, shoe, or wooden stick. For me, it is razor blades and high heels. Every morning when I wake up and look in the mirror, I see what a supervisor did to me. She has scarred me for the rest of my life. I can never use a razor without remembering what happened that day. I can’t allow my girlfriend to wear high heels because I almost lost my eyesight from it, and it scares me when I see people wear them.
Life in an orphanage can lower brain development and social and behavioral abilities compared to children growing up in a family. They also suffer the social consequences of having no family support structure and being branded as social outcasts, which often lasts a lifetime. With the right support, children who reach the age of 18 can start living a normal life. However, most children who leave orphanages become homeless and experience loneliness, difficulty developing permanent relationships, and turn to substance abuse, crime, and self-harm. Their children may end up in the orphanage, and for most, this cycle will repeat.
Most of the children live with a deep sense of abandonment and do not have a long-term carer they are attached to. Therefore, they form strong bonds with caring volunteers who look after them for a while and show them care and attention. This bond may include the hope of adoption. But when the volunteers leave, the wound opens up. When this happens month after month, the children withdraw and stop creating human bonds so they can no longer be hurt. Then they are harder to love because they do not want to be hurt anymore.
Solutions for Children in Need
There are solutions for children so we can improve their lives. Try to return the child to their family because 80% of orphans have a living family. Poverty should never be the reason to remove a child from their parents. Instead, poverty should be seen as a reason to provide the family with the support they need. To fix this problem, we should help the family socially, economically, and psychologically. If we can do this, we can keep the family together, so we don’t have to put the kids in orphanages. However, in some cases, children shouldn’t be placed with their family for their safety. Instead, we should place them in foster care with their extended family or in family-based environments where they can receive special care and learn life lessons. No child should go through what I went through. They should only know what love is, what kindness is, and what family is.