Former Apprentice and Countdown star reveals how Christian donations are fuelling overseas orphanages – where children taken from their parents are marketed as orphans.
By Nick Hewer, Patron of Hope and Homes for Children
Here’s a number that should make us stop and think.
$4.5 billion.
That’s close to the entire GDP of a country like Eritrea – or roughly the annual revenue of a global business like Domino’s Pizza.
That enormous sum is actually what U.S. Christians donate to orphanages overseas each year, according to new research from the Barna Group and the Faith to Action Initiative. Read the report here:
And it’s a slice of giving that urgently needs questioning.
All done with the very best of intentions – just like the £500m UK Christians send to orphanages each year. The appetite to help orphans is deeply rooted in their faith, after all.
But here’s the dilemma.
These vast sums are flowing into orphanages in the face of a global movement to make them history.
And here’s the shocking reason why orphanages are being shut down:
80% of children confined to orphanages worldwide are not actually orphans.
Eight out of ten have families.
For all intents and purposes, they are “fake orphans.”
A century of research shows that growing up in orphanages exposes children (many of whom have disabilities) to abuse, trafficking, and physical and psychological harm that can last a lifetime. That’s exactly why the global focus is now shifting towards helping separated children find their way Back to Family.
Across the world, governments (including the UK), alongside the European Union, the United Nations, the Commonwealth and child welfare experts agree that children belong in families, not orphanages. In fact, world leaders have backed a Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform – a landmark commitment to ensure every child grows up in a safe and loving family.
The goal is simple: move funding away from orphanages and towards supporting families on the brink, and reuniting separated children with relatives or foster carers.
So why are millions still donating to orphanages?
Because of an uncomfortable truth.
In many parts of the world, orphanages operate as businesses. The more children inside, the more compelling the fundraising appeal – and the more foreign donations flow in from well-meaning supporters overseas.
In some cases, children are taken from poor communities. Vulnerable parents are persuaded to hand them over with promises of education, food and a better life. But the reality behind orphanage walls can be very different, and families can be torn apart permanently.
The emotional pull of the “orphan rescue” story is powerful. Even celebrities have helped amplify it – with figures such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle making a recent Netflix documentary about the Masaka Kids orphanage in Uganda.
But when celebrity influence shines a spotlight on orphanages, it risks encouraging millions more people to support the very system the world is now trying to leave behind.
In parts of Africa, I’ve seen how many orphanages are an unwanted legacy of colonial rule. When Europeans arrived centuries ago, they brought railways, religion – and orphanages. Yet traditionally, children who lost parents were cared for within their communities. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbours stepped in. Entire villages helped raise a child.
Before colonialism, orphanages simply didn’t exist.
Today, an estimated 5.4 million children are growing up in orphanages around the world. In truth, the real number is likely far higher. Many orphanages operate under the radar – unregistered and unaudited.
Children are kept out of sight and out of mind.
And for some orphanage owners, those children begin to look less like young lives needing care — and more like assets on a balance sheet.
As Patron of Hope and Homes for Children for nearly 20 years, I’ve seen first-hand that there is a better way to care for children.
By working with families, communities, local authorities and governments, we’ve helped thousands of children move out of orphanages and Back to Family. We also work to prevent the conditions that lead to family separation in the first place.
Countries as diverse as Romania and Rwanda are now on the cusp of becoming orphanage-free thanks to this approach.
Because children belong in families.
Not dormitories.
Not rows of bunk beds.
Not raised by shifts of staff.
And if millions of people of faith care deeply about vulnerable children (as they clearly do) then surely the answer isn’t building more orphanages.
It’s helping more children find their way Back to Family.
