There are Orphanages that are doing a great job in giving care to abandoned
children especially children born under uncertain circumstances. There are
other 'orphanages' run as an enterprise where the owners are there, not because
they have any burden for abandoned children, but just to enrich themselves.
Most of them are not registered and operate without authorized license. They
are the ones that engage in the so-called baby industry racket. Individuals and
groups visit them and donate money, food and sanitary items only for the items
to be diverted for their personal use.
Now, is anybody asking where the children that grow up in some Orphanages
and Motherless Babies Homes around us end up? Where do they end up when they turn ten-eleven years old?
Most of them end up in the streets while the Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes continue to bring in
more babies and continue their activities. I read a piece by Sarah Zylstra
on Why
Christians Are Abandoning the Orphanage, and I found it interesting how a
ministry was able to evaluate their activities and change their approach. The
purpose of this discourse is to make a case for Adoption; it should be the end
goal for Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes especially as it concerns the little children below the
teenage age who do not have any real families to call their own.
The best environment for a child to grow and develop is in a family home.
One of the greatest gifts the family gives to a child is IDENTITY. The
Orphanage and Motherless Babies Homes cannot give this gift to a child. A child that has no identity enters
into crisis early in his/her teens. Only very few come out of this crisis
without developing hatred, anger, and resentment against the society and
established authorities.
Another gift the family gives to the child is the opportunity to receive
TRAINING both as per education, values and morals. Most of the parents seeking to adopt
babies belong to the middle class. They can give the child minimum education. Cultural
ethics and morals are taught the child in the family which prepares him for the life ahead.
The next gift the family gives is that of LOVE AND SUPPORT. The chances of a
child who did not receive parental love to become aggressive and violent later in life
are very high. These are the fabrics that hold the society together to ensure
the continued survival and existence of our specie.
We live in a country where scarce data is kept. Most research works are
bogus and not addressing real problems. We are not able to plan and forecast.
We are just reacting to life’s immediate situations; hence we are not able to
appreciate these societal problems and their consequences both mid-term and
long-term.
The point is that as the light of the world, Christians have to do things
that work; things that bring real transformation to both lives and the
society. It is good to run Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes, but it has to be only a holding
point. Efforts should be made to put every child from an Orphanage or
Motherless Babies Home into a family home. We may not be able to put every
child into a family home, especially grown up ones, but we can reduce this
number and pray that those that remain in Orphanage Homes receive God's touch.
Why should many Orphanages and Motherless Babies Homes be filled with little children when many couples are looking for children to adopt? Why should a couple seeking to adopt a child pay through their nose when actually they are not just adopting to meet a need in their lives but also helping to build the society by giving the child a future? Many questions, right? But it is only in answering them sincerely can we have a paradigm shift that we need. God bless you.
