Nobody doubts the good intention of the donors, travellers, and volunteers who give time or money to orphanages. It is natural and right to care about poor and vulnerable children, wherever they are in the world. But is this support part of the problem rather the solution?

We have been advising volunteers about the risks and dangers of volunteering in orphanages for some years now.

We are so pleased to see the recent initiative from The Foreign and Commonwealth Office – advising volunteers to research and understand the risks and safeguarding considerations carefully when planning to volunteer in orphanages and childcare institutions.

We are also proud to have made contributions to this very important resource from The Responsible Tourism Partnership written by Martin Punaks a child protection expert. We highly recommend this paper to anyone who wants to learn more about responsible alternatives to orphanage volunteering.