The Problem
Around the world, there are currently 150 million orphans and 5.4 million children living in orphanages worldwide. Children are often separated from their families and live in institutions or on the streets. The most startling fact is that 80% of the children in institutions have a living parent they could live with if given support.
We’ve learned that children who are separated from their families yearn to return and feel the love and belonging a family can offer.
Our Solution
Children want to grow up in a family, and each has the right to a safe, stable, and permanent home. And yet millions of children remain in orphanages and continue to be removed from their birth families. We are working towards eliminating the need for orphanages globally by uniting children with families – always preferring kinship care over institutions and preventing children from entering the orphanage system in the first place.
Miracle Foundation is part of a movement to reunite orphaned children with their families. Collectively, with partners all over the world, we believe we can end the need for orphanages in our lifetime.
We unite children with families
We know children do not belong in orphanages; they belong in families. We also know that each child’s journey home is unique. This isn’t just about sending children home from orphanages. As we lead the transition of children away from institutions, our job is to ensure the home that is waiting for them is safe, stable, and permanent.
We prevent children from entering the system
Every day around the world, social workers, caregivers, and government officials make decisions that impact millions of vulnerable children. We provide these “front line” workers with highly specialized training and educational resources, highlighting alternatives to orphanage care and allowing them to identify and support at-risk children long before separation is ever necessary.
How We Measure
Our proprietary Thrive Scale™ methodology allows us to measure progress and assess risk at every stage of our work. Developed over the past two decades, this one-of-a-kind tool is taking the guesswork out of child care…and has propelled Miracle Foundation into a global nonprofit organization for children.
CASE STUDY
Aarambh: From Orphanage to Family-Focused Program
Sixty years of research suggests that children without families have a lower IQ and a higher chance of ending up trafficked or incarcerated. We all know there is a better way. Here’s a story of how one orphanage is addressing the problem. Read More >
