Orphans are more likely to thrive in foster care than in orphanages, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota.

• Dr. Dana Johnson and his colleagues studied 136 babies in Romanian orphanages. The average age of the children was 21 months.
  
• Half the children stayed in the orphanages, where they got very little individual attention but adequate food, the other half were placed in foster care.
  
• Dr. Johnson's team assessed both groups of orphans on a regular basis starting in 1999.
• The children in foster care increased their heights and weights, as well as their IQs.
  
• After one year, all were in the normal range for height and 90 percent were normal for weight, although the children in the orphanages were behind in both measurements.
  

"Psychosocial stimulus interacts with the physiological system," said Prof. Nathan Fox, a member of the research team. "It increases the production of growth hormone and reduces stress. Providing adequate psychosocial stimulus is necessary for growth."

This study appeared in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Labels: orphans, orphanages, foster care

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When Adreinne and Johan Mellisen traveled from their home in Canada to Sierra Leone, they were simply planning to help out at the local school and the medical clinic. But a month after their arrival, they met Mariama.

In a March 4 article on BCLocalNews.com, Justine Drummond described what happened next:

[Mariama] was 16 weeks old when her aunts brought her to their doorstep.

"They handed me a note which said, "This girls mother is dead,'" Adrienne says. ... "When she came to live with us, she was 11 months and 11 pounds," Johan says.

As they nursed her back to health, the Melissens knew Mariama's chance for survival in Sierra Leone was bleak.

"She didnt have any future," Johan says. It was then the Melissens considered adoption. ...

Mariama was ultimately granted Canadian citizenship, and on Nov. 5, her new parents brought her home for the first time.

Labels: international, orphans, Canada, sierra leone

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When the devastating earthquake hit the Sichuan province of China in May 2008, officials estimated that over 5,000 children had been orphaned. Now, months later, the number has dropped to just over 500, and of those, just 88 are eligible for adoption as most others were taken in by relatives.

"The plight of the children featured strongly in both Chinese and international coverage of the earthquake, as it has done in previous disasters. Initial estimates said that 5,500 children had dead or missing parents, and phone lines in Sichuan provincial offices dealing with them were jammed with calls from would-be carers."

To date, just one child who was caught in the earthquake - Zhong Andi - has been adopted. Though he was living with his grandparents, they agreed to the adoption, believing it would give Andi a chance for a better life. Source: Telegraph (UK)

Labels: orphans, orphanages, China

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A baby born to a surrogate mother in India is now in limbo after the parents divorced and the mom decided she didn't want the baby.

"Commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since 2002 and the child born of such an agreement is then legally adopted by its biological parents. But Indian law does not allow single men to adopt."

Consequently, the baby is still in the hospital, and is now deemed an orphan. Lawmakers are unsure how to proceed or how to fully release the baby so she can be adopted by someone else. Source: Daily Mail (UK)

Labels: orphans, biological_parents, surrogate

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New Life Church in Conway, Arkansas, plans to use its orphan ministry, The Refuge, to bring adoptive parents together with Ethiopian orphans. About 40 orphans will come to Conway for a two-week camp during which they'll spend time with potential adoptive parents.

"The two-week 'camp' involves the children staying with their sponsor families, doing activities together and bonding... After the camp, all the children return to Ethiopia."

The children won't know they're being considered for adoption. They won't know until the adoption process begins and their adoptive parents visit them in their home country. Source: Log Cabin Democrat

Labels: orphans, ministries, church

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In May, Malaysia installed what it calls a “baby hatch” in a facility in Kuala Lumpur. The hatch allows parents to drop off infants they can’t care for.

“The first baby received by the centre, on June 27, has been adopted by a couple selected from 80 eligible parents, OrphanCARE which runs the centre was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times newspaper.” [Source: Arab Times]

Malaysia isn’t the only country with these types of infant drop-offs. Germany, Japan and Pakistan have them as well. Many were instituted in an effort to protect both abandoned babies and their parents.

 

Labels: international, orphans, orphanages, abandonment

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