PROGRAMS

FAMILY CARE MODEL

Statement of Need

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UNICEF estimates that the number of orphaned children worldwide is about 163 million, largely due to the AIDS pandemic, natural disasters, low world health standards, immense poverty, and food shortages. In Haiti, where the majority of residents live in extreme poverty, there are approximately 300,000 orphaned children. In a nation particularly vulnerable to conflict, that number is growing every day.

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Better Outcomes for Orphans. Research shows that kinship, or “OIWW Family Care,” results in better social, emotional, educational, and health outcomes for child well-being than institutional care.

Unlike institutions, the family setting offers more security and stability for the child, less moving than foster care, helps keep the child in their same community and school, and requires less government intervention. It also strengthens the child’s social and emotional networks by connecting her/him to extended family, friends, neighbors, and the community.

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To best serve the world’s many orphaned children, OIWW works to place them in family settings — with aunts, uncles, grandparents, or other suitable guardians — where they can not only survive, but thrive. Yet, placing them in a family setting is not enough. Caring for an orphaned child is a strain on impoverished families that have limited resources, and the families will struggle, to the detriment of the child, without ongoing support. That is where the UNICEF-approved OIWW Family Care Model comes in.

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Community Center Nexus. The OIWW Family Care Model revolves around a community center as the nexus of its programming for the children in its program, their extended families, and at-cost to the greater community. The OIWW Family Care Model is a sustainable, community-centered, and child development-appropriate approach to raising orphaned children as global citizens. The model applies the concept of kinship care, supporting extended family members’ ability to provide temporary or permanent care for orphaned children.

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The model calls for the provision of school fees and uniforms for each enrolled child, as well as food/nutrition and healthcare assistance for the entire family. Supplementing this, OIWW provides academic
support, recreational activities, health workshops, after-school programs, and parenting education programs – all designed to ensure that the children and their caregivers have the education and support
they need to maintain the OIWW Family Care arrangement and promote the growth and development of the child. All of these activities take place at a conveniently located community center, at which staff are accessible throughout the day for support.

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See Also:

• Embracing Family Care For Orphans (Huffington Post, Jim Luce)

• Ending Orphanages Globally (Huffington Post, Jim Luce)

MOVEMENT

When Jim Luce founded Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW) in 1999, he had no idea it would grow into an international movement. A Google search today reveals tens of thousands of mentions of “Orphans International” on the Internet. In 1999 there was none. Like Alcoholics Anonymous, the idea caught fire. Today, there are over 100 “Orphans International” organizations in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas – but only one Orphans International Worldwide.

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OIWW is the body that maintains the organization’s Global Standards – about 20 pages long – which are posted on-line. This is the only standard for international orphan care readily available to the public. They were approved and amended at OIWW’s biennial World Congresses held in Bali (2004), Aceh (2005), Columbia University (2006), and N.Y.U. Medical School (2008). These Global Standards include OIWW’s non-participation in international adoption.

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See Also:

• Orphans International Worldwide Global Standards

• Orphans International Worldwide Educational Goals

• Articles about Orphans International Worldwide

ACCOUNTABILITY

To take care of orphaned children globally – and to be lead NGO within an international movement – places great responsibility on an organization and its leadership. Towards this end, Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW) instituted Global Standards in 1999 that have been posted on-line since 2001, and is represented by both N. Cheng & Co and DLA Piper. Global Honorary Advisors include or have included H.E. Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, H.S.H. Prince Albert of Monaco, Hon. Benjamin A. Gilman, and Mr. Peter Yarrow. OIWW’s electronic newsletter, OI Worldwide InterNews, is registered with the U.S. Library of Congress and was been published from 2001 until 2011. It is been replaced by The Stewardship Report Monthly published by The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation.

Funding. OIWW is funded in part by The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation (website) with additional support from generous friends around the world. OIWW is a 501(c)3 organization incorporated in the State of New York. OIWW has a long tradition of volunteer support and donated or subsidized office space, allowing its administrative costs to be kept well under 10%.

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See Also:

• Orphans International Worldwide Global Standards

• Orphans International Worldwide Educational Goals

• Articles about Orphans International Worldwide