Great so the next group of travelers that come along will inevitably be approached, followed around and instantly “befriended” by these potentially vulnerable children. Seems healthy.

Absolutely this. Important to reinforce this point. Gifts are no better than weird random interactions mentioned like the braiding thing.

You could just get the pants hemmed..

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curious: are the initials of the org AFC? They do good work.

Found it. I probably won't be able to change your mind on this but this article gives a good picture of why these hatches are so disturbing. It's kind of scary that so many on jezebel aren't questioning a program that violates children's rights and fails to actually support women.

The results in Europe have shown these are ineffective at preventing people from leaving babies in places like outdoors in freezing temperatures. The same number of babies were abandoned in dangerous places after such boxes were installed. This indicates that the women who were leaving babies in dangerous places…

Unless you have been guilted and shamed into giving the baby up. It's often the case that new mothers who are scared and overwhelmed are constantly told they can't raise the baby and need to "give them a chance for a better life" with a nice wealthy family. Very few single/poor/overwhelmed new mothers are told "you…

the people advocating these boxes are the ones against abortion and advocating "crisis pregnancy centers" that work in conjunction with adoption agencies. They don't want poor mothers to actually raise the babies they didn't abort. They want the "less desirable" mother to give up the baby to a nice Christian family.…

Even if a woman makes the perfectly valid decision not to parent their child and makes an adoption plan, the child still has the right to know their heritage have access to their first family whenever safe and possible to do so. This is a human right as declared by the UN; the right to culture of origin and…

I'm another one that's forever gray but hopefully you (and others) see this anyway. This is categorically a bad idea because:

The first one is absolutely a big deal! An abusive partner surrendering a child anonymously puts a woman who is already in an abusive situation with likely a lack of resources and ability to navigate "the system" (due to finances, energy, time, etc) in the position where she has to go out of her way to defend her…

Thank you! I'm shocked more comments here don't see these consequences. And no your last point is not reaching at all. This is absolutely a move driven by anti-choice politics as a misguided attempt to make the point of "see no abortions required! Let rich white people adopt all the babies!". It's shocking to learn…

I'm not quite getting the real world relevance of this study. Ok, the fast food industry can handle a $15 min wage. Is your conclusion that the minimum wage therefore should be raised to $15 for everyone? Or just large fast food chains? Because some small businesses are the ones that would be really hit by this…

Except most children in orphanages aren't actually orphans.

ok seriously though, all internet assholeish-ness aside: please if you take one thing from this exchange, the only reason I felt compelled to respond was that you seemed to accept the fact the orphanage you volunteer at takes children in due to poverty alone. It is really really not ok to support (volunteer = support)…

Meh. It's a topic too close to my daily life and career for me to comment on. I will admit I should stay far away from the comment sections on articles like this. I read nonsense on gawker as a break from reality.

My opinion differs on the last point but your point is reasonable enough.

I live in the developing world and am familiar with the challenges. No need to get defensive. I am giving you a professional's perspective on why we shouldn't just accept institutionalization as a fact of life in poor countries. This isn't just my opinion. It is the official position of UNICEF through the Guidelines…