Visualizing a Response

During my paper writing procrastination, I put a few more diagrams together.

The first diagram illustrates what research has consistently concluded on orphan care in Sub-Saharan Africa. 90% of orphans are being cared for by members of their extended family. The remaining 10% (highlighted in red) find themselves in orphanages, child-headed households, domestic servitude, or a variety of other unfortunate situations.

Diagram 1.

The second diagram illustrates the effects of building orphanages as a primary response to orphan care in Sub-Saharan Africa. This diagram is an oversimplification, but it illustrates an important point. The purpose is to provide a visual example.

Orphanages absorb children far beyond their intended target. The child surrounded with the red box (the 1 out of every 10 that has no competent extended family members) is often the segment of the population orphanages claim to be targeting. However, a significant number of children living in orphanages are far outside of this target population (as indicated by the larger red box). For example, the blue children are those with one or both parents. There is research that suggests that as many as 4 out of 5 children living in orphanages have a living parent. Building orphanages removes children from families (Causality is discussed in separate posts).

Diagram 2 also illustrates that orphans who have adequate extended family members to care for them also end up in orphanages. This often happens to provide the child with an educational opportunity.   The black dot indicates the target child for orphanages. The grey arrows demonstrate that orphanages draw children away from families outside of the orphanage's intended target.

Diagram 2

The third diagram illustrates the opposite approach. Orphans are supported by strategies that strengthen the families who care for them. The grey arrow demonstrates that as these support strategies are more and more successful, they will absorb additional children into families. This ultimately decreases the number of children who "need" to be institutionalized.

Diagram 3