Monday, February 01, 2010

A Decent Case for Orphanages

Richard McKenzie makes a pretty good case for orphanages in the Wall Street Journal. He does, though, mix together the dire need in Africa, where there are many actual orphans, with the case of American foster children, few of whom have actually lost both parents.

There are half a million children in foster care in the U.S. I think some tens of thousands of them could be better served by a permanent home in an orphanage than in a series of temporary foster placements.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Maybe a number of our mentally ill homeless would benefit from institutional care also. Many were released to the streets and given medication which they didn't take. I see them wandering the streets drunk, begging on street corners every day.

Gruntled said...

Agreed. They probably do not need total institutions, the way kids do, but secure housing and someone to help them stick to their medications could be very helpful to the mentally ill, and therefore to everyone.