I grew up in an orphanage - my parents passed away when I was a baby
I'm sorry to hear that. It's a shame that some kids are in orphanages because their parents are unwilling or unable to take care of them.
It wasn't too bad, I did make some lifelong friends.  Are you familiar with orphanages?
I am! I recently read that most orphanages have been closed in Europe and North America. Why do you think that is?
Wow, I didn't know that! I have no idea why they would close them.  Maybe they are placing children in foster homes instead?
Yes, maybe that's why. I believe that organizations are trying to give direct support to vulnerable families and more effort has been made to develop foster care and adoption services.
That makes sense.  I think there are many people that want to adopt
I agree! And I think more grandparents, godparents and other relatives are stepping in to help care for these kids.
That's awesome!  What a generous thing for them to do!
founded by smaller charities and religious groups. Especially in developing countries, orphanages may prey on vulnerable families at risk of breakdown and actively recruit children to ensure continued funding. Orphanages in developing countries are rarely run by the state. However, not all orphanages that are state-run are less corrupted; the Romanian orphanages, like those in Bucharest, were founded due to the soaring population numbers catalyzed by dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, who banned abortion and birth control and incentivized procreation in order to increase the Romanian workforce.
Today's
Orphanage
Historically, an orphanage was a residential institution, or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and other children who were separated from their biological families. Examples of what would cause a child to be placed in orphanages are when the biological parents were deceased, the biological family was abusive to the child, there was substance abuse or mental illness in the biological home that was detrimental to the child, or the parents had to leave to work elsewhere and were unable or unwilling to take the child. The role