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Dwyer: Desire to end orphanages is a noble idea

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I loved your article on Moises Natera and Hansel Martz ("Ending institutional orphanages from Peoria," Peoria Independent) fostering children from Mexico. They are to be commended for their loving commitment to offering unwanted children a home. I have been working with an organization that has been operating orphanages in Mexico for the past 60 years.

In the U.S., we are Foundation for His Ministry (ffhm.org) and in Mexico we are Cristo por Su Mundo. In the past decade, UNICEF has initiated a global initiative to end orphanages and Mexico has gotten on board.

There is no doubt that the best place for a child is in a loving family. Ideally, children would be adopted into a permanent home. Sadly, there are millions of unwanted children. Foster care is a good alternative if you have loving parents, but the foster care system, even in the U.S. is fraught with problems.

I pastored a church in Los Angeles for 40 years and although LA has no institutional orphanages, the damage done to children in some foster homes is just as bad as what occurs in the worst orphanages. Children in LA and other major cities that are not fostered are sent to “group homes,” many of which are poorly run and poorly supervised. They are just as bad, if not worse than many orphanages.

Our orphanages in Mexico are exceptional and have been recognized by DIF (Department of Family in Mexico). We also operate a daycare center in Baja for almost 200 kids in an impoverished community. While DIF wants to see every child in Mexico adopted or in foster care, there are not enough families willing to care for kids and DIF frequently asks us to take in kids. Frequently, families from the U.S. connect with the kids in Mexican orphanages, but it is extremely difficult for Americans to adopt them. Mexico wants to see their kids in Mexican families. I understand the policy. In the past, Americans have adopted children throughout Latin America and adoption agencies have profited.

I’d add that caring for children is costly. Government programs like foster care are very expensive. FFHM and many other Christian ministries do not receive any government assistance. Everything is paid for by private donors. The stories of success are countless. Many of our children have gone on to the university and become doctors, dentists, lawyers and other professionals. Most have received a good education and become productive citizens of Mexico, establishing families for themselves.

I have personally followed many of the kids from infancy to adulthood. Some are now in their twenties, thirties and forties. That said, our greatest desire is to see kids adopted by loving families. It’s unfortunate that we live in a world where orphanages are needed. A majority of the children we care for have been brought to us after suffering abuse and/or trauma in their families or in foster care. We provide a loving community, nutrition, education, as well as psychological therapy. While the desire to end orphanages is a noble idea, the push to simply close orphanages is misguided idealism that will leave countless children vulnerable and underserved.

Thank you again for your article on this couple and “The Hope Effect.” Hopefully, it will inspire good people to action and put more kids in loving families.

Editor's note: Bill Dwyer is the President of the Board of Directors for Foundation For His Ministry, in Mexico. For more information, visit ffhm.org.