You asked about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s suggestion that orphanages be considered as an option for reducing child poverty and maltreatment. You also wanted information about modern orphanages and whether new facilities are being constructed.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich proposed using savings from deep cuts in the welfare program to finance constructing and operating modern orphanages as part of his 1994 Contract with America. He suggested that doing so would eliminate many welfare program costs and save children born to unmarried teenagers from their “morally deficient” families and environments. The proposal was extremely controversial and ultimately dropped from the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Act, the 1996 act that overhauled federal welfare laws.

The notion of expanding the capacity of existing orphanages to create a more stable living environment than many children experience in foster care (sometimes referred to as the “new orphanage movement”) continues to have its proponents. Recent efforts to expand orphanages have had varied success rates. Projects with corporate sponsors, such as Coca-Cola, Target, Gatorade, and BellSouth, appear to be better able to raise start-up costs and leverage other private and public funds than those without them. Other than financial constraints, common hurdles include community opposition and the absence of scientific studies examining whether children fare better in this more expensive setting than in foster care. Foster and adoptive parent advocacy groups have been vocal opponents and highly publicized reports of abusive or inadequate living conditions in several orphanages have negatively affected public opinion.

We enclose a July, 2004 report “A Return to Orphanages?” issued jointly by the UMass Center for Adoption Research and Children’s Rights, a non-profit children’s advocacy organization. Among other things, it describes residential facility models and the status of several current projects. Appendix B is a listing of “new orphanages” in the United States. The report can be downloaded at http: //www. centerforadoptionresearch. org/media/orphanage_report. pdf

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