Is your school unintentionally engaging in practices which are harming vulnerable children in Thailand?
children globally are growing up in institutions.
Institutionalisation harms children’s immediate and long-term development.
The role of international schools
We therefore invite your school to consider the following actions:
A Charitable Giving Review
Assess whether your school is directing funds to orphanages or institutions, thereby sustaining a harmful system. Learn more
A Volunteering Review
Redirecting Support
Shift resources toward community-based family strengthening programs, which directly help children remain with their families.
Educational Engagement
Incorporate learning opportunities that help students understand the complex links between poverty, child protection, and ethical forms of community support.
Scroll down to see the recordings of the presentations made at our launch event, which might be a useful way to start discussion on this topic with your students.
the UK Government’s Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform
In January 2025, the UK Foreign Secretary announced this bold and visionary initiative, aimed at transforming the lives of children worldwide by ensuring that every child grows up in a safe, loving family environment—free from violence, exploitation, and harmful practices. The campaign calls on governments, civil society, faith communities, and those with lived experience of care systems to join a global movement building on decades of progress.
Together, we aim to:
Strengthen families and prevent unnecessary separation
Ensure safe, family-based alternative care
End the use of institutions for children worldwide
The majority of children in institutions are not orphans—they are there due to poverty, lack of services, or other preventable causes.
The Global Charter is explicit:
“Institutions are supported by billions of dollars of often well-intentioned donations, tourism, and volunteering every year.”
It calls for concerted action:
Calling out and tackling harmful and unacceptable practices. We will take concerted action to eliminate orphanage volunteering and tourism. We will monitor and phase out funding streams that incentivise institutionalisation, contribute to unnecessary family separation, and undermine efforts to prioritise family care. We will take action to strengthen resources towards family-based care.
“A child’s life is so much more than the sum of its parts ‐ and the love a family brings holds everything together. From the very beginning, a child thrives on individual care and attention. A baby quickly forges a bond with loving parents – and because of this bond the brain develops with remarkable speed and complexity. But this picture of childhood can be a fragile one… once a child enters an orphanage, a very different picture of childhood can emerge.”
Learn More
Resources
Ethical & Responsible Student Travel: A self assessment tool for schools and universities
Why Funding for Orphanages is Harming the Children it Aims to Help
Is your business or organisation doing the right thing for children?
Global Campaign on Children’s Care Reform: Overview
Ending orphanage tourism, including advice for schools
Volunteering in Orphanages by UNICEF South Asia
Key Facts About Orphanages and Orphanage Volunteering
Putting Children at the Heart of Care
Alternative Care Thailand Website
Advice for UK Nationals Overseas
Volunteering With Children
In some countries, you can volunteer in or visit orphanages, or other child facilities. This can have serious unintended consequences for vulnerable children and communities. A regular turnover of volunteers without relevant training and experience can be harmful to children’s development and emotional wellbeing.
Some organisations that invite volunteers are profit-oriented, not charitable. Some dishonest organisations have deliberately housed children in poor conditions to attract financial support from visitors. Poor safeguarding practices also increase the risk of abuse. By volunteering in or visiting such organisations, you may unknowingly contribute towards child exploitation, and you may put yourself at risk of accusations of improper behaviour.
If you’re considering any volunteering opportunities with children or young people, consider these additional risks and safeguarding issues carefully in your research and planning. This also applies when volunteering to support adults with disabilities.
The International Forum for Volunteering in Development has developed a Global Standard for Volunteering. This aims to help volunteer organisations provide responsible and impactful volunteering and prioritise community needs. Organisations adopting the Global Standard commit to promoting child-safe volunteering in all environments, which includes not facilitating visits to orphanages or other residential care facilities for children.
The UK government recognises that institutionalisation (the housing of children in an orphanage or other residential institution) harms children’s physical, emotional and psychological development. In line with the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care for Children, the UK government is working towards the long-term process of de-institutionalisation.
“My school is committed to an ethical approach in all aspects of our community engagement. Having considered the advice of national and international organisations, we will no longer commit our time, energy, or resources to supporting children’s homes in Thailand. Instead, we will dedicate our efforts to supporting safe family reintegration, strengthening and supporting families and communities.”
Schools Who Have Signed the Pledge
Watch the full video of the campaign launch, or navigate to specific speeches
Supporting Statements
We are so pleased to see the launch of the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform at the UNGA. Decades of evidence has shown that the most protective environment for a child is a safe and nurturing family. It is time to end the institutionalisation of children. At Save the Children, we are committed to working with civil society, government, faith based organisations and the private sector to prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families and support alternative family based care.
The Ethical Engagement Campaign is a fantastic and much-needed initiative that helps ensure the goodwill of international schools and volunteers in Thailand translates into truly positive and lasting change for vulnerable children and their families. The campaign reflects a deep commitment to children’s rights and wellbeing, fully aligned with international child rights norms and the commitments set out in the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform. It equips international schools with the information and resources they need to support students in becoming principled, ethical, and globally minded citizens.
Children belong in families. That simple truth sits at the heart of the Ethical Engagement Campaign, and it is why Martin James Foundation is proud to stand with Alternative Care Thailand.
Around the world, the vast majority of children in institutional care are not orphans. They are separated from families who, with the right support, could care for them. International schools are uniquely placed to influence how their communities respond. Through the choices they make about giving, volunteering and partnership, they can either reinforce institutional care or help redirect that goodwill towards keeping families together.
We welcome ACT’s leadership in opening this conversation in Thailand and look forward to seeing how international schools take it forward.
Thousands of children in Thailand grow up in residential care, separated from their families. Well-meaning help can cause unintentional harm — and that’s why World Childhood Foundation is proud to support this important campaign, ensuring charitable efforts truly serve children by keeping families together.
Maestral International is excited to support the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform and applauds all signatory countries for their leadership and collaboration. As an organization we are committed to working in partnership to ensure that systems of care strengthen families to provide the care, safety and love that children need to thrive; a commitment shared by Alternative Care Thailand.
This initiative reflects the global ambition of the Global Campaign on Children’s Care Reform, launched by the UK Deputy Prime Minister in January 2025 — to ensure every child grows up in a safe, loving family and to accelerate the shift away from systems that for too long have relied on institutions for children’s care.
Thank you for being part of the solution to institutional child care in Thailand
