Little Hearts......

As much as we live in a modernized world and often, we have exceeded our expectations to solve several problems, but as society we lack the resolve to put an end to orphaned and abandoned children. According to UNICEF close to 140 million children are orphaned, where 40% of them have lost both their parents and a little of over 15% of them have been deserted by their guardians who were unable to provide for them. Armed conflict and killer diseases also account to the misery. Less than 20% of the total population find their way to child care and orphanages and only a fraction of them end up in foster care and most of them age out without ever knowing the love of a family or what it means to be successful in life.

Though these children are not responsible for any of this, they still find themselves guilty pondering why were they forsaken to be denied a normal childhood. Tragically, many adolescent children are not even known by name or have any access to proper education. Moreover, being institutionalized without any moral support would have had several consequences such as psychological illness, violence and drug abuse. Its only when we interact with them will we realize the blessing of being in a family, how grateful should we be to our parents and other members of the family.

However, for children who end up like this, there are certain initiatives taken by a lot of organizations to intervene negating these toxic effects.

Since, there have been a lot of medical advancement for people suffering with infertility; adoption rates have taken a serious hit. Sometimes even when children are adopted, they do not get the right kind of foster care, which in turn makes them suffer. Adding to these problems’ systematic issues in adoption, religious corruption and child trafficking, make matters worse.

Addressing these problems and isolating the major root cause will certainly take a lot of time and capital but together if we start contributing in the smallest way possible, we can make surely take a step in making the world a better place for them. Simple acts of charity, participating in outreach programs, kind contributions, all can make a huge difference to minimize the problems they face. Of late there has been another significant reform by Russia NGO ministry called the Orphan Graduate Program as the education level of the child plays a vital role before, he/she can be independent and age is not a factor. The country also provides free education to those below eighteen years of age and accommodation for their educational struggles. Likewise, developed and developing countries have begun to device certain policies and schemes to overcome loopholes in adoption and a few have also looked out for under developed countries.

It took a while for me to understand the orphan crisis globally and it is not just about parentless kids, it deserves a second look as the deeper we look into it, the better we can take care of them.

Furthermore, this article is not to criticize the organizations and institutions involved but rather a wake-up call to ask the right questions, besides what would make us more human than to save the children at risk.