When news recently surfaced about Madonna's second adoption of a Malawian child, we couldn't help but be concerned about what kind of a message this sends.
This adoption is wonderful news for Madonna and most likely, for the three-year-old child.
However, her situation is representative of a larger problem -- one that cannot be solved by celebrity adoptions, or international adoptions more broadly.
We believe the best place for the world's 145 million orphans is in family-based care, in-country.
Ideally, they could be cared for by their extended family, in their own cultural context. When this is impossible, organizations like ours work around the world to provide them with this loving, culturally appropriate home environment.
SOS Children's Villages aims to prevent children from becoming orphaned or abandoned in the first place. Parents faced with crises or poverty often lack the resources and ability to care for their children. Our family-strengthening programs seek to empower families.
When children become orphaned and abandoned, we welcome them into one of our villages: A cluster of family homes and supporting facilities, such as schools, social centres and medical centres. Each family home is headed by an SOS mother, a local woman and child-care professional who loves and cares for these children as her own. Children are raised in their own culture.
We feel this sort of arrangement is the most appropriate investment in the well-being and futures of these children and that of their communities.
Boyd McBride,
National director, SOS Children's Villages Canada
Monday, 15 June 2009
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