The Crisis of Poverty Orphans in Haiti

The world is experiencing an orphanage crisis with 80% of children living in orphanages who have at least one living parent. Approximately 25,000 children in Haiti who live in an orphanage are classified as poverty orphans. Poverty, hope for a better life or a disability are all reasons why people send their children to orphanages. However, orphanages can do more harm to a child than good, especially when they are not classified as true orphans.

Reasons Parents Their Send Children to an Orphanage

An orphan is a child whose parents have died. Of the Haitian children living in orphanages, about 25,000, most of them have at least one living parent or a guardian who is available to take care of them. Many times, Haitian parents cannot afford to raise some or all their children. They send their children to an orphanage in hopes of giving them a better life.

Orphanages can provide these poverty orphans with education, health care and overall better services for them to grow and learn. However, orphanages do not provide the poverty children with individual attention that their families can and should provide.

Reasons Why Parents Should Not Send Their Children to an Orphanage

After the 2010 earthquake, the number of children sent to orphanages increased exponentially. About 760 institutions operate in Haiti with less than 15% of them registered with the Haitian government. Most of the orphanages Haiti are privately run and funded by foreigners, mostly Americans.

Although sending them to an orphanage seems like the easy option to give their child a better life, institutionalization prevents poverty orphans from developing physically, socially and psychologically. Children who grew up in an orphanage face developmental challenges that could affect them in their future.

“The reality is that,” said a  2015 report from Lumos, “in spite of best intentions, institutional care cannot meet the needs of children, who do not flourish outside families.”

Lumos is an international charity to keep children out of orphanages. They began operating in Haiti in 2015 where they managed to shut down 13 institutions and sent over 200 children back to their families.

Even though they are insufficient, records of poverty orphans show that they would be less successful in adulthood. Poverty orphans are 10 times more likely to become prostitutes and 40 times more likely to have a criminal record. Additionally, the suicide rate is 500 times higher while women are 10 times more likely to be involved in the sex trafficking industry.

The Potter’s Family is a nonprofit organization that operates in the Northwest area of Haiti. The Potter’s Family gives formula and assistance to babies whose mother died. They admitted their first baby in 2019, and since then, they helped more than 23 families to stay together and to keep their children out of orphanages.

In an interview with The Borgen Project, media director of The Potter’s Family Liam Dobbie says, “Despite the best intentions of any orphanage, they are a magnet with abuse. Many of the children come out of an orphanage very damaged and completely unprepared for the real world; they are set up to fail” (personal interview via email. July 12, 2022).

Babies in Orphanages

In particular, babies and infants do not develop properly if their parents send them to an orphanage. Babies need a personal, one-on-one interaction with their parents. Orphanages cannot provide that individual attention. As they grow, babies’ brains do not develop and suffer severe physical and mental setbacks.

For poverty orphans, oftentimes, their mothers have died or cannot feed them. Babies depend on breastmilk, and if their mother cannot provide that milk, there are little options for the baby. The family can either watch as their baby slowly starves from lack of nourishment or they can send the baby to an orphanage.

In an interview with The Borgen Project, founder and executive director of The Potter’s Family Tore Dobbie says, “I had several encounters with sobbing fathers handing me their newborns and begging me to put them in an orphanage. When I would talk to the fathers about why they were asking for that. The answer always came back to lack of resources” (personal interview via email. July 12, 2022).

Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation

Because about 20% of Haiti’s orphans are poverty orphans, they are at a higher risk of being abused and exploited into the human trafficking industry.. On the global slavery index, Haiti is ranked in the top 10. About 300,000 children in Haiti are trafficked, which is about one in 15 children. Sixty percent of those children are girls being exploited in the sex trafficking industry.

Additionally, many orphans, true orphans and poverty orphans alike, are seen as tourist attractions to get more donors for the orphanage. In one instance, an orphanage in Haiti was intentionally malnourishing the children to receive more donation money. The children often suffered from disease due to the neglect of the orphanage.

In an article for Lumos Haiti, one former volunteer for a Haitian orphanage recounted their experience: “They were intentionally malnourished to increase the severity of the situation in order to motivate visiting volunteers to donate more, or adoptive parents to increase their ‘childcare donation; while waiting for their adoption to be finalized.”

Empowering Families to Stay Together

Alexindo’s mother gave birth to twins, but she was not mentally fit to care for newborns. The mother dropped Alexindo’s sister, and she died. Alexindo went to live with his aunt. After about a month, baby Alexindo became sick. He needed a blood transfusion, so his aunt gave him some of her blood. Alexindo’s aunt needed a way to feed Alexindo and to help him while he was sick. One of her cousins recommended taking him to The Potter’s Family. She searched for Paul, the Haitian Director of The Potter’s Family.

Without the help of The Potter’s Family, Alexindo’s aunt would have little options. She could not watch Alexindo suffer from illness and was determined to help him in any way she could. The Potter’s Family provided assistance and formula to prevent Alexindo from becoming one of the many victims of poverty orphans in Haiti. He can grow up with his family and experience the love his family can give him (Personal interview via messaging. July 13, 2022).

Although more than 20% of Haiti’s orphans are poverty orphans, organizations like Lumos Haiti and The Potter’s Family are working to keep children out of orphanages. Children thrive in a family unit where they receive love and emotionally develop properly.

“My advice is for donors,” Tore Dobbie says. “Stop supporting orphanages. Support organizations that empower families. Fight to keep babies with their family unit.”