The UK Foreign Secretary has announced a new international campaign to get children out of orphanages and Back to Family.
On the 17th January, the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Bulgaria with Hollywood actor Barry Keoghan to announce the launch of a new campaign to advocate for family-based care for all children across the globe.
The Foreign Secretary and the Hollywood star, who has lived experience of growing up in care, are pushing for every child to have the right to a safe and loving family environment. As part of this campaign, the UK will lead a new Global Alliance with countries around the world to advocate for sustainable, lasting reform of children’s social care.
Whilst in Bulgaria, Lammy and Keoghan met with staff from Hope and Homes Bulgaria and heard from the Bulgarian Minister of Health, Silvi Kirilov, who praised our team’s work since 2012 in closing Bulgaria’s orphanages.

A campaign across four continents
The January 17th announcement marks the first step in the Foreign Secretary’s campaign to progressively end the institutionalisation of children – which is up to five times more costly than family-based care – and will be followed by the launch of a Global Charter later this year.
So far, six countries across four continents have already signed up to this alliance and are committed to driving forward progress on this issue: Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, Paraguay, the Philippines and Rwanda.
We already work in four of these countries, so this announcement represents:
A significant boost to our work
We hugely welcome the Foreign Secretary’s commitment to our mission to end orphanages and get children Back to Family.
And of course, we’re extremely grateful to Barry Keoghan for using his profile to raise awareness of the plight of the 5.4 million children still confined in orphanages worldwide.
Our CEO Mark Waddington and members of Hope and Homes’ UK Team have been working closely with the Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to advise around the campaign, and stress the urgency of action on the issue of institutionalisation.
“We are delighted to see the UK Foreign Secretary turn his personal passion into political action with the launch of the first-ever global campaign on care reform for children,” Mark said.
“Millions of the most vulnerable children face trafficking, abuse, and neglect as a result of being confined to orphanages and institutions, but today’s announcement offers hope for ending this global scandal.
“We look forward to the landmark Global Charter this Spring, to transform the way the world cares for children and help every child find their way Back to Family. This campaign has the potential to secure the political and financial backing needed to make orphanages history.”