This is a truly fasinating story about the 'business' of orphanages over sea's, but as i read the article, I found some statistics and information that surely apply to our children with care orders until the age of 18 here in Australia.
Residential Care, out of home care or youth refuges as it is know here also don't provide for the basic primitive need for an attachment to one primary adult.
Tara in this story learned that when children don’t get what they are biologically programmed for, it can have a significant impact on the development of human brain architecture – key synapses, the connections between the nerves, fail to form in really critical regions of the brain.
“The constant rotation of caregivers in an institution – even an institution with the best possible standards of care – leads children to adopt survival techniques to gain the attention and affection of adults. After the workshops with the psychologist, I was able to start recognising some of the behaviour problems we were seeing in the kids, like indiscriminate affection, as symptoms of attachment disorders.
As Tara dug a little deeper, she uncovered some truly unsettling facts. “There’s a huge body of international scientific research proving that children can’t thrive when growing up in residential care. One study found that young adults raised in institutions are 10 times more likely to fall into sex work than their peers, 40 times more likely to have a criminal record and 500 times more likely to take their own lives.” Sound familiar? As a kid in care, i escaped with only spending the equivalent of 2yrs in a refuge. (Broken across time) and as an adult, I spent a good 3yrs working in res care. The rate of crime of those young people, drug use and suicide i encountered was mind blowing... and I my self have had numerious suicide attempts.
Residential Care, out of home care or youth refuges as it is know here also don't provide for the basic primitive need for an attachment to one primary adult.
Tara in this story learned that when children don’t get what they are biologically programmed for, it can have a significant impact on the development of human brain architecture – key synapses, the connections between the nerves, fail to form in really critical regions of the brain.
“The constant rotation of caregivers in an institution – even an institution with the best possible standards of care – leads children to adopt survival techniques to gain the attention and affection of adults. After the workshops with the psychologist, I was able to start recognising some of the behaviour problems we were seeing in the kids, like indiscriminate affection, as symptoms of attachment disorders.
As Tara dug a little deeper, she uncovered some truly unsettling facts. “There’s a huge body of international scientific research proving that children can’t thrive when growing up in residential care. One study found that young adults raised in institutions are 10 times more likely to fall into sex work than their peers, 40 times more likely to have a criminal record and 500 times more likely to take their own lives.” Sound familiar? As a kid in care, i escaped with only spending the equivalent of 2yrs in a refuge. (Broken across time) and as an adult, I spent a good 3yrs working in res care. The rate of crime of those young people, drug use and suicide i encountered was mind blowing... and I my self have had numerious suicide attempts.
According to Tara, The solution in these 3rd wolrd countries is to redirect our support and donations away from organisations with residential care and towards organisations that promote family-based care,” says Tara. “If all the funding being sent to orphanages and other residential care institutions was redirected to organisations are getting children out of institutions and back to families, as well as preventing vulnerable families from being separated in the first place – we could then see an end to the era of institutional care of children.”
Does this also not sound familiar?
Funding and training to recruit more LONG TERM foster placements with a view of adoption right here in Australia could change a system that currently leaves kids in care far behind the 8 ball in oyr society!
Does this also not sound familiar?
Funding and training to recruit more LONG TERM foster placements with a view of adoption right here in Australia could change a system that currently leaves kids in care far behind the 8 ball in oyr society!
Now that i've had my rant, please do take the time to read Tara's powerful message about how we can truly help empoverished 3rd world countries.'Teddys and books sent in care packages isn't the answer.. support an agancy that works on the foster care principle as opposed to orphanages and institutions that inhibit a childs development and retards their future!
The link is:
http://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/real-life/in-the-news/stop-supporting-overseas-orphanages?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=editorial
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