Families not institutions

Visiting a children's home can be a wonderful experience.  It's amazing to be able to sit with the children on an individual basis and there are always cuddles galore.  On the outside, the kids seem happy enough.  Full of smiles and giggles.  It's when we look deeper into the personalities and lives of the children that you realise how damaging institutionalised settings are for children.  Save the children have carried out a lot of research into this, check out their website for all the facts and figures.  The maddening part is we seem to get a lot out of supporting orphanages.  We tend to forget these kids need families who are solely reponsible for their each and every need.  Parents who show these kids love, affction and attention.  Who know them inside out.  We tend to forget that children, here in Africa, are the same as the kids we see and know in the UK.  They have the same needs.  The same wants.  The same dreams.  The same desires.  And yet we continue to shut them away in these institutions and accept that this is 'right' and 'normal'.  We cannot deny these children the right to a family, so why do we continue to support charities that promote orphanages?
So look at these kids, all ordinary on the outside, but imagine what's going on on the inside!