"Keeping families together"
Children's homes
With 17 children’s homes and 605 children living in them (as of December 2014), Sangkhlaburi suffers from an outdated approach to meeting children’s needs. Global research from organisations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, and Lumos shows that the vast majority of children in children's homes worldwide are not orphans, but live in institutional care due to family poverty.
Global research also shows that institutional care in children's homes can have lifelong emotional and physical effects.
Data from Sangkhlaburi fits these trends. A survey conducted by One Sky in December 2014, in partnership with provincial social services, showed that over 90% of children in Sangkhlaburi children’s homes have at least one living parent, while over two thirds of children said that they lived in a children’s home for reasons tied to family poverty. At One Sky, we agree with international consensus that poverty should never be the sole reason for children to be separated from their parents. We believe that, with perseverance, new models of family-based care can be found to meet children’s needs without institutionalizing them.
One Sky's Alternative Care work promotes family-based care; click here to learn more.
