Secular Orphanages

[greg76]

After 7 years of deprogramming my Christain upbringing, I have come to find infidels.org a great source of inspiration...confirming conclusions I have come to believe on my own. As we all know here, we do good by virtue of being a good person and making the world a better place. It has always been a deep desire of mine to help orphans, even as a teenager. Recently searching for orphananges, all I can find are those that are "Christian". Here is my question: Does anyone know of any secular orphanages, funded/built/run by either agnostics or aetheists? I am not talking about a place that only shelters and feeds children. I am speaking about a place that also provides a positive outlook on life without fear or prejudice from a secular point of view. Children/people will convert to Christianity, even if the reason is basic survival. We also need to mold children before they have many years of unprogramming like I had to go thru.

[greg76]

Does anyone know of any links to secular orphanges? I am in the final stages of deprogramming 7 years of Christianity, but find it alarming that my search for secular orphanages has not shown much for our effort to make this world a better place. I am not talking about just housing and feeding children, as government agencies do. I am looking for an orphanage that is funded/built/run by the secular society raising children in a positive enviornment, without the fear and prejudice of Christian influence. Poor/unfortunate children/people will migrate to a hand that helps, if for no other reason than basic survival. We (I) also have the obligation to help raise the next generation without having to go thru the self-judgmental process I went thru.

Thank you,
gregory

[PoodleLovinPessimist]

I don't know of any. Perhaps you could start one?

[Never]

Sorry Greg,

I don't know of any and have never had occassion to search for them.
But I'd be interested to know the answer.

[anders]

I don't know of any orphanages in Sweden. I think that there have been such things, but I hope and believe that orphans are taken care of in other ways in our country. An Intenet search on the corresponding Swedish word yields only hits referring to other countries.

<added>
And in those days that they existed, I thnk that they would have been at least as secular as the rest of the society.
</add>

[EverLastingGodStopper]

I am not talking about just housing and feeding children, as government agencies do. I am looking for an orphanage that is funded/built/run by the secular society raising children in a positive enviornment, without the fear and prejudice of Christian influence.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no private USA orphanges run with a specifically non-religious agenda. Most private agencies that serve orphans seem to be operated by religious groups.

If serving the needs of US orphans is your goal, perhaps you are in a position to create the nation's first-ever private secular orphanage. Some of the national nonbelief groups might even consider supporting such a secular orphanage.

I would recommend getting involved with a state-run orphanage first, which will be secular, under law. Once you have made contacts in the community that serves the needs of orphans, you will be prepared to begin your own organization. I would guess that fundraising might be your biggest obstacle, so you would first have to know what you are doing before you can go out seeking financial support. Once you have established your group, you may be able to get grants from nonbelief organizations.

If you are not interested in being the founder of a secular orphanage, maybe you can find one to work with or volunteer for, or you could try working with/for your state's child welfare agency.

You might find this helpful in finding groups close to you that need help: http://cafca.net/

Good luck!

[Viti]

Most counties/cities have a place where children who are removed from their homes, for neglect or abuse or because their parents can't provide basic necessities, are housed until they can get into a foster home. These are almost universally temporary situations. The best you can do is find the one in El Paso county.

There aren't many "orphanages" left in the US as most any girl who finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy can have an abortion or take her pick from the thousands of couples waiting to adopt. Other children (special needs for the most part, including older kids and racial minorities, who aren't sought for adoption as often) are put into foster care with the thinking that being in a home with a family is better than being institutionalized.

Many foreign countries still have orphanages that are run by the government, because they have more children who need homes than they have couples looking to adopt, but not the US. If you want to help orphans, I suggest registering as a foster parent.

[greg76]

Thank you for all the valuable input! Maybe one day I can help "create the nation's first-ever private secular orphanage"! I can't imagine that I am the only non-Christian who has desires of helping orphans, so there must be plenty of reasons why it hasn't been done yet. Even so, that will have to wait until I am out of the military in a few years.

I was searching for info here at infidels, but seems like we are more interested in trying to disprove religions with words, instead of proving by our actions that we are just as passionate about making the world a better place by helping the less fortunate. That being said, I did see a banner on the front page to help victims of the recent tsunami, but once again, my focus is on orphans.

[Viti]

Greg, did you read my post? There are, for all intents and purposes, no orphans here in the US.

There are many, many orphans of the tsunami, however, so if you give to one of those organizations you will be helping orphans.

[greg76]

Yes, I did...but there are 2 things:

1. Just because there is not a secular orphanage in the US, doesn't mean that there cannot be one. I am not going to let your response limit my possibilities. If you would have read the website mentioned in my last post, you will see that there ARE orphanges in the U.S. and they are christian.

2. There are orphans in other countries as well. In my original post, I never said I was looking for those in the U.S. I was actually looking to help those in Latin America.

Concerning the tsunami orphans, per U.S. Immigration:

"The international standard among adoption professionals in a crisis is to keep children as close to their family members and community as possible. It is often difficult to determine whether children whose parents are missing are truly orphans. In the current situation, many children have become separated from one or both of their parents whose fate is unknown. Even when children are indeed orphaned, they are often taken in by other relatives. Staying with relatives in extended family units is generally a better solution than uprooting the child completely. Also, in the immediate aftermath of such disasters, a country's government may be in disarray and what resources are available may be deployed on recovery projects.

USCIS believes that it will take many months before the countries affected by the disaster will be able to identify the children who are actual orphans. It is only if and when these countries decide to make these orphans available for international adoption that American citizens will be able to begin adoption proceedings for those children who also qualify as orphans as defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act."

[Viti]

They are not allowing the tsunami orphans to be internationally adopted yet, of course, but they need to be fed and sheltered and clothed in the meantime. The former Yukoslavia is also not allowing adoptions yet, either because of the difficulty in determining orphan status with so many families separated. The US State department will not issue adoption Visas unless orphan status can be proven or the birthparents have signed the necessary papers.

And I am willing to bet most of those Christian orphanages are simply temporary homes or adoption agencies, not any kind of permanent home.

I have been researching all this for months as we are planning to adopt.

[Columbus]

Hi Gregory.
Since secular types have little in common except lack of belief in images of God they tend not to organize much. You are unlikely to find much in the way of "Secularist Charities". I suspect many do what I do. Find a reputable organization that accomplishes what you want to see done and help. If you get over the theological differences between yourself and them, they often will also.
Around here, the Catholic church has the best program. "Friends of Haiti" supplies all kinds of aid to orphans. My willingness to help is all they really care about. The well known fact that I am a queer agnostic doesn't seem to faze them much. I've done volunteer work in all kinds of Christian settings. I don't see it as a "us vs them" situation, and niether do most people who truly want to help unfortunate people.
Tom

[EverLastingGodStopper]

All nonreligious charities are secular, such as the American Red Cross.