What Becomes of Orphans in Other Countries?
By Debbie Mumm
There are over 1.5 million orphaned children in the world. There are over 20,000 living in American foster care. Although foster care is not great, these kids have a much better chance of making it in the adult world than an orphaned child in other countries.
Russia has over 700,000 orphans with only about 25% of them housed. By age 15 or 16 a Russian orphan will age-out of the orphanage system. They are sent back into the streets with about $30 and nothing else. Of course, due to poor conditions in the orphanages many of these kids run away long before they age out. More than half of these kids end up in jail or prostitution. A Russian orphan will have his passport stamped ‘Orphan’. People do not want to hire orphans and do not want them marrying their children. They are considered outcasts. Many boys will join the military but because of their orphan status will get the most dangerous jobs. Only one out of 10 orphans will make to their 21st birthday. Most can’t get jobs and the cycle of orphans continues.
In China an orphan must live in the orphanage their entire life if they are not adopted. Once they get old enough they become workers for the orphanage. They don’t get much of an education as they will never leave the institution.
As far as orphanages go, some are better than others. However, even a good orphanage has little time for the children and usually is quite poor. The bottom line is that an orphanage is no place for children to grow up. Children need the stability of a family to grow and prosper. It is everyone’s duty to help orphans around the world…to give them hope for a better future…and to end the cycle of homeless children.
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