We’re Kathey and Rob Raskin of Las Vegas and we care about foster children and the lives they lead. Throughout the world, we’ve seen promising statistics regarding orphans. In the Americas, Haiti suffers from life-threatening poverty and ever-increasing numbers of orphaned children and the government is struggling to control the problem.

Haiti’s main social services agency states there are roughly 35,000 children in 814 homes. In the past, officials said most orphans believe their placement is temporary, attempts to provide education and care their families couldn’t. Additionally, cases of illegal adoption were, and remain, common. Haitian parents report being tricked into placing children in orphanages. To combat this, the Haitian government created new restrictions on adoption following the deadly earthquake of 2010. Since 2015, about 150 homes have been closed.

Here in the United States large orphanages don’t exist. Most orphans and abandoned children enter foster care, or small group homes for those with special needs. In Africa, Rwanda will close all its orphanages. While this is unusual, as there are few services for the millions of children living in poverty, the director of the Rwanda’s National Commission for Children states that about 3,300 children were in orphanages in 2012 when the program began. According to officials, all but roughly 235 have been adopted, returned to their family, or placed with foster families.

In China, most orphans are children who have been given up because of medical concerns. Several families, particularly in poor rural areas, can’t support a child with high medical costs. Because of this, Chinese babies with medical issues would frequently be left alone in fields or other public and private locations. In 2011, China responded with so-called “baby hatches” attached to orphanages. The hatches gave parents a safe spot to leave children who they couldn’t care for. Hundreds of children were left at them and it overwhelmed many departments.

China now wishes to place these children in family settings. Last year, China had roughly 460,000 orphans. Foster care or adoption helped 373,000 of them. Only approximately 88,000 children went to orphanages. But more adoptions and placements are needed.

Around the world children fear for their safety and need a home to go to. If you can help, please do so by contacting a local agent to become a foster parent, or consider adopting.

Our foster homes and systems are overburdened, and these children need real families to take them in. On our Kathey and Rob Raskin Stop DHR webpage, you can report complaints about DHR issues and poor responses. Do it. You can save lives.