JK Rowling condemns 'voluntourism' and highlights dangers of volunteering in orphanages overseas

[HarryPotterFan]

JK Rowling has come out against voluntourism and highlights the negative effects of Westeners volunteering in orphanages in order to pad their CV. I found the article very interesting, especially in the context of how much the Duggars and their ilk love showing off how wonderful they are for volunteering at orphanages.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jk-rowling-twitter-voluntourism-volunteering-in-orphanages-risks-a7204801.html

Quote

JK Rowling has condemned the concept of voluntourism and highlighted the myriad problems with working in orphanages abroad.

The term voluntourism refers to the growing phenomenon of individuals travelling to developing countries to carry out volunteer work. In recent years, increasing concerns have been raised about voluntourism and gap year projects and some have argued it can cause more harm than good to host communities. 

The 51-year-old Harry Potter author, who runs a charity which campaigns to end the institutionalisation of children worldwide, has drawn attention to the perils of volunteering in orphanages.

After being asked to share an appeal from a charity which offers volunteering opportunities in orphanages, she sent a series of tweets explaining why she could never endorse their work.

JK Rowling in tweets

“As often happens when I tweet about the charity I founded, @Lumos, I have just been asked to retweet an appeal from another charity, this one offering volunteer 'experiences' in an orphanage in an extremely poor country. @Lumos does not support #voluntourism,” she wrote on Twitter.

“#Voluntourism is one of drivers of family break up in very poor countries. It incentivises 'orphanages' that are run as businesses,” she continued.

“The charity I have just been asked to support offers (doubtless well-intentioned) Westerners 'volunteer experiences' in child institutions.”

“One of the advantages listed for your orphanage volunteer experience is that it will give you a CV 'distinguisher'. #voluntourism”.

The #voluntourism charity tells volunteers that they will be able to 'play and interact' with children 'in desperate need of affection.'

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 21, 2016

This, in short, is why I will never retweet appeals that treat poor children as opportunities to enhance Westerners' CVs. #Voluntourism

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 21, 2016

Rowling went on to argue that while westerners might be well-meaning, their work could perpetuate the institutionalisation of children.

The author's charity Lumos has done a great deal of research into the dangers of child institutionalisation and works to support the eight million children who are currently living in institutions worldwide. They argue that institutionalisation denies children individual loving and caring relationships they require and can damage their brain development.

According to their data, 90 per cent of the eight million children in institutions worldwide are not orphans and have families at home which want to care for them but cannot because they are pushed into institutions because of poverty and discrimination on the basis of disability or ethnicity.

Philip Goodwin, the CEO of Voluntary Services Overseas, told The Independentthe organisation strongly agreed with Rowling's views.

“VSO has been working with volunteers for nearly 60 years to help address poverty and social exclusion across the globe," he said. "We recognise the valuable and compelling academic research that demonstrates the detrimental impacts that volunteer contact can have on institutionalised children, which is why VSO will not support such placements."

"VSO strongly backs JK Rowling’s views on this issue and we are ready to work with all organisations to ensure that orphanage trips are consigned to history.”

 

[Mercer]

I agree with all of this.

Orphanage voluntourism is also really bad from a child development perspective. Forming intense temporary emotional bonds with adults who show big outbursts of affection and then disappear from their lives has a major negative impact on institutionalized children's psychological and neurological development, as well as their ability to form healthy attachments. 

Children need consistent caregivers, not emotionally intense short-term visitors. Many people assume that it's better for children to have someone to go "love on" them even if it's temporary - but it's not. Every bond that gets broken makes it harder for children without a stable caregiver to trust and attach. The volunteer can easily move on with their lives once they leave, but for the child left behind it can do permanent damage.

[CharlieInCharge]

I spent two years teaching abroad. I had the same class of students the whole two years. While that didn't feel short-term at the time, I still struggled with leaving at the end. I loved my kids and had no way to continue those relationships after I left. Obviously this is similar to what all teachers and pupils experience annually, but the idea I was 'abandoning' my kids was real to me. People pulling a 'love 'em and leave 'em' with children who desperately need love and stability make me feel physically ill. I sincerely hope this practice can be ended.

[HarryPotterFan]

@Mercer I agree with all of what you said. I studied child development in college, so I was thinking about all the things you mentioned when reading that article, and whenever this topic comes up. It's so bad for a child's mental health and well-being, and there are so many negative outcomes that come from having abandonment issues and inability to form health attachments.

[Bad Wolf]

The Duggars and SOS and their kind will never believe this.

[JillyO]

I so agree with all of you. Good for JK Rowling for speaking up about these appalling practices! I have very negative emotions about any kind of voluntourism, but the practice of Westerners going to visit poor brown children to cuddle with them for a few hours (or days) is easily the worst in my eyes. I don't think most people who do this kind of thing have bad intentions, but how anyone can fail to see the horrible damage they do in the process is beyond me.

[HarryPotterFan]

9 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

The Duggars and SOS and their kind will never believe this.

That would involve accepting psychology and science, which means they'd have to accept that things like blanket training and not allowing individuality/genuine emotion are bad. So yeah, they'd never believe this.

[FutureA]

For these institutionalized children (most with living family members around and not truly orphaned) experiencing temporary attention and having it then stripped away quickly is another trauma and loss the child needs to process and work through. It's not really a happy or helpful experience as the volunteers may think. I think more education on trauma/neglect/loss is really needed and if volunteers come they need to commit to more than just a few days. 

[ILoveJellybeans]

I cant believe they cannot see how cruel it is to the children, and how it contributes to attachment disorders. Children don't need to be "loved on" by a bunch of strangers who come and go. They need long term stable relationships, especially when they have already been separated from their parents. Them attaching to a kind stranger, only for them to leave and be replaced a week later is adding extra trauma. The only short term visitors to an orphanage should be the people who are in the process of adopting a child from there, and only there for that child, and people who are there to provide medical things, such as dental check ups or vaccinations, who will treat them as patients. All of the children's needs, education, emotional warmth, taking care of their physical needs should be done by people who are committed to spend a long time working for that orphanage.

[Glasgowghirl]

I agree with her, people may mean well but unless you plan on adopting a child or are planning on helping out long term it's best not to visit orphanages. Children need stability and it's unfair for them to get attached to an adult then get upset when they leave all the time. 

[LadyCrow1313]

Yet another reason to love JK Rowling. 

And if someone has a strong need to give love & affection to someone else, they could volunteer at a local hospital ward that takes care of abandoned babies. 

Not sure if this is a common practice that hospitals do, mind you, but I thought it could be (if the volunteer is serious enough about it, that is, wouldn't stiff the hospital in question and leave them hanging). 

[Toothfairy]

International adoption is a big business. Adoption doesn't do shit do help the real cause. The majority of kids have families. Their families are too poor to care for them. Getting attached to caregivers then leaving isn't healthy.