India (MNN)–As the tsunami coverage focuses on new hope, there is a dark future for many of the disaster’s orphans.
Hopegivers’ Bill Bray says the Indian government gives families a block grant for taking in orphans. It’s what happens next that is problematic.
Their teams have observed the effect of a ‘block grant’ in funds on the number of orphans on the streets. “Once that money is released to the villages, we believe that a lot of these children will be abandoned. The families that took them in will get their payment for having been like ‘foster parents’ for these children and then the money will run out. Gradually, more and more of these children will end up in the streets again.”
Bray says that leaves a wide open field for evangelistic opportunity. Their teams are working to build orphan homes to anticipate the growth.
They’re expecting to have an active growth plan for the next five years. “For Hopegivers that gives us another opportunity to reap a harvest of children who will be abandoned. Because the homes are already established in the community, and are being established, then people will know they can place the children there.”
