different philosophies

so we went to an orphanage yesterday that made me realize hmmm... i´ve got my own opinions on the "how to´s" in child welfare and realized i think i´m right when really there´s just another way of doing things or a different philosophy about doing child welfare that i´m not used to... obviously.

so here at this orphanage there are 900 children and once this organization has guardianship of these children they never try to get them adopted. that´s the problem i have with their philosophy. they reason saying that they´re able to keep siblings together, which i believe is very important as well but that´s what we try to do in the foster care system in the US but if a family was able and willing to adopt a sibling group, why not let them? is foster care the only answer? no. why keep children/adolescents in a group setting if they could possibly be within a family setting. yes, their model is a different definition of a family but i wonder how these children/youth do once they are out on their own. do they know how to connect with only one person? where´s the prevention in all of these societal problems?

the organization does a lot of great things. most youth are able to attend a university in monterrey after they give back a year or two to giving service at their organization. i believe in giving back and in self sufficiency even though not everyone is able to be self sufficient. is there opportunities here at the orphanage that other children might not have if they were adopted? yes.

we seemed to see the happy cheery side of the orphanage. when we would meet children i almost felt like... see look at this youth their so happy here....support us... i wasn´t completely convinced. it´s like the contriversoy over adoption fairs, should people be able to "shop" for children? it seemed that many of these youth seem to have a inner self confidence but i question the philosophy of not letting children/youth be part of a smaller family unit. i heard that even if they get a baby or young child they won´t try to get them adopted but since the organization has custody the child will grow up in a group setting. are they able to normalize with others in their same situation? yes. is adoption always work in making happy new families that bond easily together? no. i realize more and more i have my opinions and philosophy on things and that´s o.k. that there´s differences but i support more and more research to see what is working best to help children and youth that come from difficult circumstances. we need as a society to find out how we can best serve these children and youth.