Are there any ways to help children from poor countries without adopting them away from their homelands?

Question

For instance, are there any permanent solutions that could be done that would have a lasting effect on their communities so those countries wouldn't need to depend on exporting their children as solutions? If there are, why are more people not involved in pursuing those goals?

Is anyone else concerned that adopting internationally isn't helping the children who are left behind and isn't improving conditions to reduce the number of children who need help there in the future?

Thank you for any ideas you may have on this topic.

Answer 1

-sponsoring a family or village.  

-buying maleria nets.

-donating books or clothing.

-working for the peace corp

-donating money for medication.

-join a church missionary group and travel to these areas to provide help.

honestly, i think the whole "saving the children" is more to satisfy someone's "mother-theresa jones."  it always amazes me how people really think that children in poor counties have no culture nor desire to be there.

also, i find it very ironic that the conditions of these countries have more to do with generations of exploitation from rich countries, to get access to the natural resources of these poor countries (oil, diamonds, gold, et al.)

now these countries' citizens want to 'save the children'...give me a break!

Answer 2

Thanks for this question ~ I am glad more people are concerned about hungry, hurting children and their families that are dying for a morsel of bread  to eat and a glass of clean water to drink. They hunger for love and are starved for someone to take up time with them; they do not have toys to play with like our children have in the USA.

I sponsor 3 kids overseas through World Vision.

WV is a sponsorship program that allows under-privileged children all over the world to be helped by a Christian group of people. Two pamphlets about each child are made ~ one is given to the World Vision coalition in the country that the child lives in, and one is given to a group that is willing to take it (such as a group of professional singers) and then try to get someone to take the child to sponsor. If anyone would like to get more info about world vision, just email me, Kristin at [e-mail], and I will give you more details!!!

Answer 3

pursuing a unique and honest goal .. we need a good leader.

who will be the leader.. ?

Answer 4

Hello Julie,

Thank you so much for asking your question, I believe the children's issues should be one of the primary concerns to everyone in every country.

Adoption in some countries is also known on the "black market" as trafficking and slavery. In order to avoid this from happening people must take better action and care when "adopting". Sadly, there are not enough people that really take the children's needs to heart, yes, they do need proactive families, no, and they do not need to be hurt more. Adoption should be transparent and beneficial to the child, not harmful. It should be a labor of LOVE, not hate.

Children of the state [orphans, etc.] have very little human rights; they are often tricked and lied to by adults - some who have been very bad people and stop at nothing in order to sell their soul -and these children- for another coin. Poverty and ignorance is to blame for many of these cases. The children are used, abused and trafficked into places and conditions that are very bad. Boys are often tortured if they do not work the quota for the day. Girls are often raped and sold into prostitution so that an organized crime unit can make money from the slavery.

Sadly this is happening on an ever widening global scale and many "officials" are taking bribes [often under threat] to prevent them from "talking" of these issues and to look the other way.

Human Trafficking and Involuntary Slavery must end in this New Year. Human Trafficking is NOT a "game". In order to accomplish this, I, along with my people must petition to end this evil throughout our land – others must take the same action in their country. A task force must be established to investigate into the local areas to understand what is happening and what is being done about these issues in the local communities. We must raise our voices for those who cannot speak out for their own selves. We must not remain silent. We must defend the helpless.

The first step is not to blindly "give more money". The first step is "Better education and understanding of these issues".

We can help these children with our money, but the children themselves know it's the heart of love that matters most.

Again, thank you for your timely question.

Answer 5

Yes, plenty.  We have children in our home from Belarus for one month at a time, care for them, providing a friendly stable environment, nourishing food and lots of loving care. We have daily activities, medical checks and plenty of good clean fresh air and fun.

When the children return to Belarus. They return with a twelve month supply of vitamins and any essential medicines, clothes and food for both the children AND THEIR FAMILIES in order to maintain the benefits of their visit throughout the year.

It has been proven that care of this nature substantially boosts the children's shattered immune systems and enables them to enjoy a healthier, fuller and longer life.

We hope that this substantially increases their lifespan and helps them live a life we all take for granted.

People who accuse of folks 'resting on their laurels' blah blah blah and not helping children just have no idea what others are doing to 'help' children in need!

I care about children in need in ALL countries, not just the ones with international adoption programs!

Answer 6

Here is an example of a group I found recently who is doing amazing humanitarian efforts. ( i just blogged on them read blog here: http://withoutatribe.blogspot.com/2007/1... )

This group is called telefood http://www.fao.org/Food/english/index.ht... and for never more than $10,000 ( 1/3 of the cost of an adoption ) they go into poverty striken communities and teach the people how to survive, and produce an income that supports them and the community. Heres an article where telefood went into 4 peasant communities in S. America and taught all of them how to live off of the land, provide for themselves, and make an income. 22 families were saved, helped, and given the education necessary to continue living healthy for 1/3 the cost of an adoption. Read the article here: http://withoutatribe.blogspot.com/2007/1...

There is SO MUCH more that 30,000$ can do for a community than taking one child, out of their home country and into an American Home.

Poverty should NEVER be a reason to divide families, but somehow americans are patting themselves on the back for paying these extreme fee's, and bringing just ONE child into their home.

Entire communities could be saved and children could STAY with their families. to me, its a win win.

And for those religious minded folks, I partner with Joyce Meyers Ministries. For $21 a month, you can feed, clothe, house, educate and provide for an orphan, a REAL orphan. Which is FAR less than the cost of an adoption. For $105 a month you can provide for 5 orhpans, about $1200 a year. What I like about Joyce Meyers Ministries, is that they give the children education and once they reach of age, they provide them a job so that they can get off of assistance through the partnership and provide for themselves. They're not just giving money with no chance of a way for them to get off of assistance.

Answer 7

stay  away  from  those  kids  and  donate  moneY

Answer 8

Give money to UNICEF, a charity that is against 'intercountry' adoption, and supports family preservation.

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_41918....

Answer 9

Sponsoring a child doesn't sound like you're doing much, but you'd be surprised.  There a good, reputable organizations that do a great deal to improve conditions in impoverished areas of the world.  World Vision sends me regular updates on what work is being done in the area in which my sponsored child, Prabhavathi, lives.  She and I also correspond with one another.    Sponsors are obviously always needed, as there is much work to be done.

I also have a friend who is missionary, who gives medical treatment to street youth in Canada.  Canada isn't a third world country, but you get the idea.  Others have done short term mission work.  For example, one woman went to China and taught children for two years.  

I'm sure other people have a lot of other ideas, as well.

Answer 10

What a wonderful and very important question.

From the time I was a young child, I was overwhelmed by the poverty I saw on TV.  When I was about 6 I stopped eating.  As with the old joke, I wanted my parents to send my food to the "poor starving children in Africa". When I realized that that wouldn't help, I decided to sponsor a child through a Christian organization, so during my tween and teen years, all of my allowance went to these organizations.  

During college, I decided that instead of going to Spring Break, I would go to Central America to visit one of my "children".  Now, I wouldn't say that I did this the right way, I didn't contact the organization, I just went down there.  I did find the building of the organization, but I never met the child that I had been sponsoring since I was a child.  I had all of his information, photos, and letters, but I they didn't know where he was.  I was so naive at the time, that I probably would have rationalized that he had moved, except that right before I left they brought me a child who was much to young to be my sponsored child and told me that this was him. Then when I returned to the US, I received a letter from my child (now a teen).  It was just like the other letters I had received from him over the years and never mentioned the fact that I had been down there trying to meet him.

As you can imagine, I was overwhelmed.  Were they truly  to dupe me or were they just that unorganized?  I had no idea, but I did decide that I would no longer give that organization money. Instead I would go to third world countries and work with humanitarian organizations. To this date I have worked and/or volunteered in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East and have had experiences with many different organizations from the high profile ones: Save the Children, Mercy Corps, Peace Corps to unknown obscure ones.

During this time,I met many good caring people like noodlesmycat who were in these countries looking to adopt children.  It was not these people, but all the other circumstances that made me decide that although I truly understood their reasons and motivations, I do not believe that international adoption is helping the world as a whole.

To begin with, as you stated, the $30 or $40 thousand dollars spent on the child could go to help, not just that child, but a whole village.  As Miss Ashley stated that that money usually goes into the hands of government officials and black market "businesspeople".  I also saw local people having children specifically so that they would get adopted.  Their belief was that the more children they had, the better chance they had at having one that was not only adopted, but that in the future would come back for them and bring them to a first world country. Sort of a third world lottery.  Since this scenario did happen once in a great while, it wasn't as outlandish as it sounds at first, but it does created even more poverty in the long run.

Another problem I have with many of the children sponsoring organizations is that they are Christian based. Some only will give food and supplies to Christian children while others will give it to anyone, but only if they consider converting.  I have seen more families than I can count informed that they can no longer be helped because they have taken enough money from the organization and still haven't become Christian.  I can't think of anything so unchristian in my life, and refuse to be part of it, but that is just my opinion.

Another thing that I look for is a program that educates people, especially women and girls, as well as giving them the basic necessities of life. There is a lot of research that proves that by educating women and girls, birth rates stabilize. http://www.populationconnection.org/uplo... This is because they can now take care of themselves instead of producing many children in hopes that the children will take care of them. I strongly support these educational organizations because I don't see how helping people stay alive, only to produce more people, will help the end poverty.  As the quote goes, "We aren't feeding hungry people more, we are feeding more hungry people."

So what can be done?  There are many programs that look to help BUILD sustainable non-violent communities around the world.  Below is a list, not a complete list by any means, but a start. Look at them and Google the ones you like. This will not only give you info on these high profile organizations, but will lead you to links so that you can learn about similar lessor known groups that will help in a way that you believe in.

Mercy Corps is a very good organization that helps all cultures and religions.  http://www.mercycorps.org

So are doctors without boarders http://www.msf.ca/en/index.html

And Teachers without boarders

http://www.twblive.org/

Physicians for Social Responsibility

http://www.psr.org/site/PageServer?pagen...

Seeds of Peace http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/middle_east...

Feel free to contact me for more info if you would like.

Answer 11

You can try sponsoring a child or orphan. I see them on commercials sometimes. Sorry, I can't remember the organization.

I also remember watching Oprah. This girl was raising money for children from poor countries and she met former president Bill Clinton xD

But you can try these websites:

www.SavetheChildren.org/sponsor

www.WorldVision.org  

www.SOS-USA.org

Hope I helped. Good luck!

Answer 12

There are many organizations for this, some through churches others are major sponsor programs like, Feed the Children.  BEFORE you decide, get financial information from the charity.  Ask how much of the money actually goes to the children and how much do they keep.  If they won't give that information, don't use them.  I know there are some church sponsor programs that all of the workers volunteer so all the money you give goes to the child.  The plus is, it helps a whole village, not just that child.  You will get photos and letters from your child.  I know that the Free Methodist World Headquarters in Indianapolis, IN has a program that all the money goes to the kids.  I used to sponsor a child with a group of other teenagers through my church.