Orphanages Aren't All Bad, Says Alumnus

A broadcast from an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (and the high probability that it will receive an influx of children after the earthquake) makes this Wall Street Journal article by Richard B. McKenzie timely. Here are some excerpts:

Last month, Duke University researchers issued the first report on their multiyear study of 3,000 orphaned, abandoned and neglected children in developing countries in Africa and East and South Asia. About half were reared in small and large "institutions" (or orphanages) and half in "community" programs (kin and foster care). Contrary to conventional wisdom, the researchers found that children raised in orphanages by nonfamily members were no worse in their health, emotional and cognitive functioning, and physical growth than those cared for in their communities by relatives. More important, the orphanage-reared children performed better than their counterparts cared for by community strangers, which is commonly the case in foster-care programs....

I watched the Gingrich-Clinton debate with a personal interest, having grown up in an orphanage in North Carolina in the 1950s. I wrote a column for this newspaper defending my own orphanage and others like it: "Most critics would like the public to believe that those of us who went through orphanages were throttled by the experience. No doubt, some were. However, most have charged on." The children at Barium Springs Home for Children worked a lot and didn't get the hugs many children take for granted, but we did get advantages that many children today don't get—a sense of security, permanence and home.

I was shocked by the number of orphanage alumni who called, faxed or emailed in agreement. What's more, many added, "My orphanage was better than yours," which made me wonder if the experts knew what they were talking about.

During the past decade I have surveyed more than 2,500 alumni from 15 American orphanages. In two journal articles, I reported the same general conclusion: The orphanage alumni have outpaced their counterparts in the general population often by wide margins in almost all social and economic measures, including educational attainment, income and positive attitude toward life. White orphanage alumni had a 39% higher rate of college graduation than white Americans of the same age, and less than 3% had hostile memories of their orphanage experiences. University of Alabama historian David Beito replicated the study with several hundred alumni from another orphanage, reaching much the same conclusions.

Five years ago, George Cawood directed a documentary, "Homecoming: The Forgotten World of America's Orphanages," for which crews traveled to four orphanage homecomings where the aging alumni gathered by the hundreds to celebrate their childhood memories. The producers and cameramen were amazed at the fond memories the alumni reported and feared that they had not filmed enough bad memories to achieve the "dramatic tension" needed to keep audience interest. Nevertheless, I am proud to have been executive producer on the project, because the filmmakers produced an award-winning, honest and powerful oral history of orphanage life that has since aired on many PBS stations across the country....

UPDATE: See also Preface and Overview for the History of Orphanages Reconsidered, also by Richard B. McKenzie.