Are most children in orphanages actually orphans?

No. Over 80% of children in orphanages have at least one living parent.

This is perhaps the most important and least understood fact about orphanages. Most children living in orphanages are not orphans, they have parents, siblings, grandparents or other relatives who, in most cases, love them and did not want to give them up.

They are separated not by death, but by poverty, disability, discrimination, conflict and the absence of the right kinds of family support. Families facing impossible circumstances are told that orphanages will give their children a better future – better food, education, healthcare. Too often, those doors close behind children as they enter and do not open again for years.

Globally, over 5.4 million children are confined in orphanages. The vast majority are separated from families who exist and, with the right support, could care for them. This is not a child protection system. It is a system that punishes families for being poor. Almost half of parents in Ukraine who placed their babies in orphanages had themselves grown up in orphanages (Children’s Ombudsman of Ukraine, Annual Report, 2021) demonstrating how the system transmits harm across generations.

References (Are most children in orphanages actually orphans?)