One charity is calling for Church-goers to to stop donating money to orphanages. They say that the money should be sent to initiatives which support family-based care. Hope and Homes is a UK based charity that focuses on children’s issues. They commissioned a report last year to track the giving habits of UK Christians and see what types of organizations brough in the most money.
The Hope and Homes charity report found that ‘well-meaning’ Christians are donating hundreds of millions of dollars to overseas orphanages. They say these facilities can leave children suffering from emotional damage and institutionalization. As a result of their findings, they call on Christians to user their cache with orphanages to move children into better facilities.
They say that family based care is a better solution. The survey examined 4,552 people and found that 722 identified as practicing Christians. They say that 38 per cent of the practicing Christians had donated money to a residential institution for children overseas in the preceding year. The report issued a cautionary warning to well meaning givers.
“However,” the report cautioned, “as the body of research surrounding the benefits of family care for children over institutional care has evolved and grown, education within the UK Church itself has lagged behind.” They went on to say that “While often well meaning, the significant flow of financial giving and volunteering can perpetuate a reality for children that does not hold their interests at the center.”
According to the report, 16 per cent of Christians who had donated had sent more than £500. The scaled up these numbers based on the number of regular church goers to calculate that around £500 million being sent to overseas orphanages every year by the UK Church. Pete Garratt, the director of global programs at Hope and Homes issued a stern warning to UK Christians.
He said that “I think that orphanages globally are a 21st century scandal. It doesn’t need to be something that is happening in this day and age.” he added that “I would just love to see UK Christians and Christian leaders standing up and calling for change and saying ‘enough[is] enough, we now know better” He concluded by stating that “My call to the Christian church is: let’s be leaders in consigning orphanages to the history books.”
He me be getting his wish. As we reported, a study claims to show a decline in giving by Evangelical Christians to their own Churches. The recent survey found a decline in charitable donations among Evangelical Protestants in the U.S., with both the frequency and total amount of giving decreasing. The study was preformed by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research.
The report, called “The Giving Gap: Changes in Evangelical Generosity,” surveyed 1,039 Evangelicals in the first half of 2023. In 2021 74% donated to a church in the past year, this declined to 61%. Evangelicals also donated less to charities. This year only 50 per cent of Evangelicals giving to charity in 2024, compared to 58 per cent three years earlier. While this data was collected in the US, it seems to be measuring a worldwide trend.