Growing Great Kids in Orphanages

Program Description

Today, being cared for in an orphanage, for several months, several years or an entire childhood, is the reality for hundreds of thousands of children around the world. Every one of these children deserves the opportunity to grow into an adult with self-respect who is capable of achieving his dreams and feeling compassion for others. Infants and young children reared in institutions who have not experienced secure attachment relationships and appropriate stimulation, are destined for lifetimes filled with disappointments, anger and violence. The cruel reality is that most orphanage caregivers in developing countries provide only the most basic custodial care, neglecting the social-emotional needs of the children they care for.

While orphanage administrators and caregivers want only the best for the children in their care, they have seldom been offered the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive training program that would enhance their knowledge and skills and result in giving children the foundations they need to become contributing, empathic members of their families and communities. Growing Great Kids In Orphanages makes it possible and affordable for orphanage staff to learn how they can re-structure their environments and re-organize their time to provide for the emotional and developmental needs of abandoned and orphaned children. Great Kids, Inc. tailors 2-3 year training and technical assistance programs for communities or countries interested in improving the outcomes for children being cared for in orphanages. Our program includes a Train-The-Trainer Institute, focusing on in-country replication, sustainability and advocacy Growing Great Kids In Orphanages materials include a simply written curriculum for trainers and activity-based guidebooks for caregivers designed to enhance caregiver-child relationships and to support child health and development as the caregiver becomes empowered by her new knowledge and skills..

For more information on bringing Growing Great Kids to your community, or our Adopt An Orphanage sponsorship project, please email lindae@greatkidsinc.org.

Overview : A Global Approach : Orphanage Training Programs : Adopt An Orphanage : Research & Program Outcomes