English for Social Workers: Children Without Parents

Orphanage is the name to describe a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable to care for them. Parents, and sometimes grandparents, are legally responsible for supporting children, but in the absence of these or other relatives willing to care for the children, they become a ward of the state, and orphanages are a way of providing for their care and housing. Children are educated within or outside of the orphanage.

Orphanages provide an alternative to foster care or adoption by giving orphans a community-based setting in which they live and learn. In the worst cases, orphanages can be dangerous and unregulated places where children are subject to abuse and neglect. Today, the term orphanage has negative connotations. Other alternative names are group home, children’s home, rehabilitation centre and youth treatment centre.

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another who is not kin and permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Some societies have enacted specific laws governing adoption whereas others have endeavoured to achieve adoption through less formal means, via contracts that specified inheritance rights and parental responsibilities.

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a “foster parent”. The foster parent is responsible for the day to day care. Foster care is intended to be a short term situation until a permanent placement can be made.

· Reunification with the biological parent(s) – when it is deemed in the child’s best interest. This is generally the first choice.

· Adoption – preferably by a biological family member such as an aunt or grandparent.

· If no biological family member is willing or able to adopt, the next preference is for the child to be adopted by the foster parents or by someone else involved in the child’s life (such as a teacher or coach). This is to maintain continuity in the child’s life.

· If neither above options are available, the child may be adopted by someone who is a stranger to the child.

· Permanent transfer of guardianship

· If none of these options are viable the plan for the minor may enter OPPLA (Other Planned Permanent Living Arrangement). This option allows the child to stay in custody of the state and the child can stay placed in a foster home, with a relative or an Independent Living Centre or long term care facility (for children with development disabilities, physical disabilities or mental disabilities).