What she learned about the orphanage was disturbing

My church supported eight different orphanages when I began as a pastor five years ago. Orphaned and vulnerable children were the very center of our mission as a church community. We were serious about following God’s call to care for vulnerable and frequently sent out short-term mission teams worldwide, including — eventually — one young woman as a full-time missionary. 

What she learned working in one of the orphanages broke our hearts and permanently changed how we care for children in our mission work. 

At first, she began to notice evidence of financial corruption. But eventually, a doctor went to test and treat each child — even the toddlers — for sexually transmitted diseases. Every single one tested positive. 

We were devastated. We knew that something had to change, fast — and that we needed to be a part of the solution. So we began our journey towards strengthening vulnerable families and supporting family-based models of care for children like foster care, kinship care, and adoption. 

After learning about the abuse, our church connected with an organization already working locally to reunite and strengthen families. They assisted in the transitioning of the children from the orphanage back into their homes.

But the situation had shaken us. Since we still partnered with other orphanages around the world, we knew we needed to learn and do more. I started reading. Current research paints a clear picture of how best to care for vulnerable children, and why family-based care is so effective at producing more resilient families and children. I was surprised, though — and many are — by what I learned about the reasons children end up in orphanages at all.

Poverty is the primary reason children are separated from their families worldwide. In fact, the data shows that 4 out of 5 children in orphanages around the world have a living parent. The documented short-term and long-term benefits to children who grow up in a safe and loving home — like a sense of belonging, as well as better-supported physical and emotional development —  contrast sharply and tragically with the negative effects of institutionalized care. 

It became clear to me that God was calling our church towards the best-known plan for vulnerable children: ensuring they grow up and are supported in safe and loving families.

Family-strengthening organizations like the ones we’re blessed to call partners today work tirelessly to keep families together and bring previously separated families back together. 

By providing education, medical access, vocational and financial training and other services, the family care model empowers parents and the community and makes for safer, happier children for many generations. It’s a proactive, rather than a reactive, way to do mission work — one we want to be a part of for years to come. 

But we’re just one church. I’m just one man, trying to make what difference I can. The work is much bigger than me, much bigger than our church and all of its many friends. 

What would the lives of vulnerable children worldwide look like if the global church prioritized strengthening families to care well for their children over a superficially “better life” in an orphanage for a hundred kids?

As churches, imagine what could happen if we invested deeply on a community level. We could know that our mission work and its effects would be durable, sustainable and transformative for the children who lived there in a way no institutional care ever could be.  And we could know that our reach into each community would be even greater. 

Of course, as a church in Kansas, we don’t know how to transition children out of an orphanage in a country halfway across the world. We don’t have the expertise or community-based knowledge to do this unique work. But we do know that with the right support and resources — help that we as Christians can provide — each community, whether it be in Haiti, India, or Kenya, will be empowered to do what’s best for the families and children who live there. 

So Christians, let's consider the Father’s heart for vulnerable children. Psalm 68 is a powerful reminder of just how central God’s heart for the orphan is: “God sets the lonely in families.” 

The church can and should step forward into the challenging but good and indispensable work of prioritizing family-centered care. His plan for children is family. Together, we can help make His plans their reality.