Study finds orphanages can be a 'viable option'

This is simply conditioning you to drop this antiquated notions of the nuclear family being the bond that holds society together. What the government wants from you is not to produce viable offspring that contribute to the betterment of society. No, they have their own prodigies among their own families to fill that roll

In like manner, the scientific rulers will provide one kind of education for ordinary men and women, and another for those who are to become holders of scientific power. Ordinary men and women will be expected to be docile, industrious, punctual, thoughtless, and contented. Of these qualities, probably contentment will be considered the most important. In order to produce it, all the researches of psycho-analysis, behaviourism, and biochemistry will be brought into play.... All the boys and girls will learn from an early age to be what is called 'co-operative,' i.e., to do exactly what everybody is doing. Initiative will be discouraged in these children, and insubordination, without being punished, will be scientifically trained out of them. - Bertrand Russell, "The Scientific Outlook", 1931

Your lot in life is to be completely helpless and destitute, so that you cannot survive without the government, and are thus slaves to the will of the state. You're far less likely to rebel against the state when you're wholly and utterly dependent upon it. Self-sustainability is frowned upon. Grow your own food? Pfft! Eat organic food! You're a freak! Get married and raise your children in a stable family-oriented environment? That's so anti-social. It's not enough for them that over half of all marriages end in divorce. You must endeavor to be part of the flock, to be un-thinking, un-unique. So go ahead, leave your spouse - the grass is always greener on the other side. And your children? Not to worry! They'll be looked after in state child protective services, where two-thirds of them will be put on psychotropic drugs, because they're from bad gene pools.

USA Today -

Children who live in orphanages fare as well or better than those in family homes, reports a Duke University study that tracked more than 3,000 children in five Asian and African countries.

The study, released today, is touted as one of the most comprehensive ever done on orphans. Orphaned and abandoned children ages 6-12 were evaluated over a three-year period in 83 institutions and 311 families in Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Tanzania. Those in institutions had significantly better health scores, lower prevalence of recent sickness and fewer emotional problems.

"Our research is not saying that institutions are better. What we found is that institutions may be a viable option for some kids," says study leader Kathryn Whetten, director of the Center for Health Policy at the Duke Global Health Institute. She says what matters most is the caregiving.

The study's findings contrast with U.S. and international child-welfare policies that strongly favor family placement over institutional care for orphaned or abandoned children.

In the U.S., group homes and other forms of institutional care exist, but they are no longer called orphanages. They housed about 16% of the 463,000 children in foster care in September 2008, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"Institutional care is not always Dickensonian," says Richard McKenzie, an economics professor at the University of California-Irvine. He lived in a North Carolina orphanage from age 10 to 18 and wrote a memoir about his mostly positive experience.

McKenzie says the Duke study debunks the myth that families are the better choice. He says some foster care kids are abused or bounced from home to home.

The study does not apply to U.S. foster care, says Olivia Golden, who studies child and family programs at the Urban Institute, a research group. She says the U.S., unlike some poorer countries, provides schooling and health insurance to its foster care kids and tries, in addition, to find them families so they can thrive.

Golden says research on child development shows that children, especially very young ones, benefit from having a consistent caregiver.

The Duke study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PloS ONE, was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development.