This ‘Heartfelt Talk’ about Orphanages and Children’s Homes and Profit over Care, is a video in my serie ‘Raw and unfiltered’. Why 'Raw and unfiltered'? Because the videos in this series are unscripted, from the heart, raw and unfiltered, with little or no editing, Brolls or other fancy stuff. Just an unfiltered, emotional and vulnerable me.

I recorded this ‘Heartfelt talk’ last year on Gangilonga Rock in Iringa, in Tanzania but I am publishing it now. Why so now and not then? Because the some feedback I received from people, whom I showed the video, was that I might be presenting myself too vulnerable, and that could work against me. But some other people encouraged me to publish it because they thought it is okay to be vulnerable, to share the other side of the story. We do not need to be strong all the time. That is why I'm sharing the story now.

I felt the need to share a deeply personal and urgent message about the complexities and challenges faced in the realm of advocating that children belong in families and not in institutions like orphanages, children's homes or large disability centres.
On social media it might look like a happy journey, where I am listened to, and people agree with me all the time. But it is not always a happy journey, full with positive encounters.

In this video I share with you my vulnerable, confusing, emotional side of my journey.

I used to be kind and supportive to people who run institutions like orphanages, children’s home or large disability centers. But 80% of all children growing up in institutions like orphanages have at least one living parent or other family members who could take care of them given the right support.
Next to that it’s also their right to grow up with family. Still people keep placing and holding them in institutional care, despite the fact that 80 years of research shows that these institutions are harmful to children’s growth and development.

But now I question their intentions after witnessing numerous negative incidents. I'm not sure anymore if people do this with the best intentions. I just don't.
To me it was never about good or bad orphanages. I never talked about these institutions being business. To me it was and still is about a child’s right to grow up in a family and their best interests.

For many years I was a donor and volunteer supporting orphanages, thinking I was doing the right thing. But I learned that there is a better way of taking care of these vulnerable children: in FAMILIES. And now I am sharing my knowledge with others to create a positive change: away from institutional care towards a familybased care approach.

My motto is borrowed from Maya Angelou: ‘Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, DO better.’

Despite my efforts to advocate for familybased care and policy changes, the fact people are informed, they don’t change their model of care. Resistance persists, often due to financial incentives. And that is a truth which I find hard to deal with. But I keep pushing the topic forwards, and I keep spreading the message: Children belong in FAMILIES!

And it is possible to bring them home, even children with disabilities. I made a video about a beautiful reintegration of a child with a minor psychical and mental disability, from a large institution for disabled children (with no therapy options available) back into the loving care of his parents and little brother. And now two years later he is still living with them, and he is thriving. The whole family is healed and together. Please do have a look at this touching story    • We Brought Him HOME, Where He Belongs...  

Thanks for watching and your support. Please join me on my mission and help me to spread this message by liking and sharing this video. And if you have any other ideas or suggestions on how we can further this cause, please share them with me. Your input is invaluable.Thank you.


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www.dutchtanzaniafoundation.org
www.bettercarenetwork.org
www.bettercarenetwork.nl


Download for FREE a little booklet called ‘Children without a HOME’, with more inside information regarding research and law on the topic. In this booklet you can read more about my story in the preface, which I was asked to write: https://bit.ly/3jpefAE

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• ‘Children in Institutions – Global Picture’ Research by LUMOS: https://bit.ly/431mEgq
• Convention on the Rights of the Child: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments...
• Consensus Statement ‘Attachment goes to court’: https://bit.ly/3FhtTXf
• The 2019 UN General Assembly Resolution on the Rights of the Child focused on the theme of children without parental care: https://bit.ly/46LMGG5


Edit intro: Dion Huiberts and Monique Derrez
Edit video: Monique Derrez


Monique Derrez, Canva


Music from Silent Partner – Time Stops – YouTube Music Library