Cambodian Youth Leaving Orphanage Care
Published with permission of the International Organization for Adolescents
2 May 2011
For many youth, leaving orphanage care is an experience fraught with risks and vulnerabilities, according to research recently conducted by the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA).
While conducting research last summer, IOFA learned that youth still in orphanage care in and around Phnom Penh, Cambodia presented risk factors that suggested they would be vulnerable to exploitation, violence, drug use, and other dangerous trajectories upon their exits from care. This March, IOFA returned to Cambodia to follow up on this research and to learn about the experiences of youth and young adults who had already left orphanage care. We aimed to begin to understand the general trajectories of care leavers, to determine whether they are indeed vulnerable, and if so, what kinds of services might support them.
During focus groups and individual interviews held with 27 care-leavers, aged 18 to 29, youth reported deeply troubling trends.1 Twenty-four participants spoke of damaged or severed family connections and of extreme poverty and homelessness, six referred to exploitation and trafficking, nineteen reported severe emotional distress, and two said they had experienced drug problems. All but three live on less than $1 a day.
These findings challenge the current, widespread belief that institutional childcare, due to its access to education and funding, is in the best interests of children whose families are too poor to care for them. The care-leavers interviewed came from a volunteer-heavy orphanage that was founded and funded by Westerners, and nearly all of them had at least a high school education and English skills – yet this background did not protect them from the risks associated with leaving care.
Arguments in support of Cambodian orphanages frequently refer to depraved families who abuse and desert their children. While orphanage care (or another form of alternative care) may be a better alternative for children who fall into this category, this is not how most children come into orphanage care in Cambodia. Orphanage directors themselves reported to IOFA that most children come into care due to extreme poverty. In addition, many orphanages engage in recruitment practices such as sending staff to impoverished villages to offer childcare to struggling families. A 2003 study showed that families place their children in orphanage care primarily for the educational benefits associated with such care, but families reported that they were either not permitted to visit their children once they were in care, or that the orphanage was so far from their homes they could not afford to visit. Children in this study who were in orphanage care frequently reported missing their families.2 Recent research has shown that only 28% of children and youth in orphanage care are parentless.3
The recent mass proliferation of orphanages, the number of which increased 65% from 2005 to 2008, is somewhat counterintuitive.4 The costs of family support are one-sixth those of orphanage care and the number of orphaned Cambodian children has decreased dramatically in the last decade.5 UNICEF has noted a troubling correlation between the rate of increase of orphanages and the growth of tourism in recent years.6
IOFA is honored that so many youth were willing to share their experiences with us, and we feel confident that, as IOFA and many other organizations build awareness about the dangerous outcomes of institutionalizing children, those working in child welfare may begin to assess their practices and consider ways in which they may protect children and youth from the risks now associated with leaving care. In the meantime, we are collaborating with agencies in Cambodia to design desperately needed transitional services, and we are diligently fund raising to ensure we can implement these emergency services as soon as possible.
As our partner, Project Sky7 (a part of ICC), an NGO that has pioneered this work in Phnom Penh, has noted: “The reality is that, when young adult orphans leave the orphanages to live in the community, they will be among the most vulnerable members of society, in many cases the very reason they found themselves in an orphanage in the first place. Too often orphanages have not relieved them of their vulnerability, but have only delayed its effects.”
Susan Rosas
International Organization for Adolescents
1 All youth were between 18 and 29, except for one 14-year old girl.
2 Nakajima, Misako. (2003). Orphans in Cambodia: a case study of families and children in a public orphanage. Capstone Project. Brattleboro: School for International Training.
3 For a brief overview, see Worley, Mark (2011). “In Orphanages, Only 28% Are Parentless.” The Cambodia Daily. March 21, 2011. The full report, to which UNICEF and Project Sky were contributors, is expected to be released in the coming months.
4 Friends International (2010). Myths and Realities about Orphanages in Cambodia. From http://www.friends-international.org/ourprojects/myth-realities.asp
5 Csáky C. (2009). Keeping Children out of harmful institutions. Save the Children, London, UK
6 Carmichael, Robert. March 25, 2011. “Cambodia’s Orphanages Target the Wallets of Well-meaning Tourists.” Phnom Penh Post.
7 Visit Project Sky’s website at http://www.icc.org.kh/activities/sky