COLOMBO, 3 September 2007 (IRIN) - Thirteen-year-old Kumuduni Perera (not her real name) was found outside the Suvasetha orphanage in Panadura town, Kalutara District, when she was just two months old. The authorities from the orphanage believe Kumuduni was left at the entrance early one morning by one of her relatives who has not visited her since. Raised in the orphanage, Kumuduni says that some day she hopes to find her parents.

In Sri Lanka today institutional care is the fate of many children who have been abandoned by their parents. According to UNICEF, out of over 21,000 children in orphanages in Sri Lanka, one or both parents of over 19,000 of them are still alive.

UNICEF says in most cases it is a family member who leaves the child at an orphanage. "In Sri Lanka institutional care has become the sole option for many children because their family unit is destroyed, by such things as parental loss, separation or parental conflict. Another reason may be the war and displacement factors," UNICEF said in a 24 July report entitled, "Out of Sight - Out of Mind." Poverty is also a root cause with the family feeling they cannot afford to adequately provide for the child, according to the UN agency.

Poor conditions in orphanages

The UNICEF report, published in collaboration with the government's Ministry of Child Development and Women's Empowerment, aims to improve living conditions in orphanages and ensure the children are cared for adequately.

There are currently 488 voluntary children's homes in Sri Lanka. Most are found in Batticaloa District which has 66, followed by Colombo with 60.

Living conditions for children in some of these homes is less than idyllic. According to the UNICEF report, only 12 children's homes are found to be fully compliant with current standards of care. Most homes are overcrowded and lack sufficient staff to provide the individual attention children need.

"It is difficult to employ staff to look after children as the pay is insufficient," Leslie Fernando (name changed), a staff member of Suvasetha orphanage, told IRIN. "Many homes do not even have separate accommodation areas for the staff so we have to sleep with the children." Fernando, like many employees at children's orphanages, is reluctant to be identified for fear of losing his job.

Not enough beds

Many children's homes in Sri Lanka do not even have sufficient basic facilities such as beds, clean water or adequate sanitation facilities.

"Sometimes we have to sleep on the floor as we do not always get a bed," Kumuduni told IRIN. "We take turns to sleep on beds as there are five children in my room and only two beds," she said.

According to the UNICEF report, 136 orphanages said they did not have a sufficient number of beds: many of the children ended up sleeping on mats on the floor. In addition, UNICEF found that 142 homes were unable to provide separate storage space for children's personal belongings.

"Most of these children living in homes, do not get what they deserve," Sumana Silva (name changed), the manager of the Suvastha orphanage, told IRIN. Like many orphanage employees, she has been warned by her employer not to talk to the media about living conditions at the children's home.

Inadequate funding

"The kids are often ignored by the authorities," said Silva, "so we do not have enough money to run the homes or send them to school." Those children who are not getting a formal education receive basic reading and writing classes from staff members in the mornings at Silva's orphanage, she says.

Most children living in homes have never known the true meaning of family. Although many homes allow parents to visit, these visits are often deliberately kept brief and highly supervised, according to the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA). This, observers claim, is so the children do not have the opportunity to complain of staff abuse to a parent who might subsequently lodge complaints against them with the protection authority.

Communication with parents and relatives - including letters written home by the children and those received by them - is often closely monitored by orphanage authorities, according to the Women and Children's Bureau of the Sri Lanka Police Department. The bureau, one of whose functions is to investigate child abuse, is concerned that many children are confined in these orphanages with restricted communication with parents and relatives and often with inadequate supervision or living conditions.

Theft from orphans

During festivals children receive gifts and cash donations from well-wishers and foreigners who visit the area. However, according to the bureau, last year alone it received over 150 complaints against staff members for theft, during these festivals, of belongings and cash from children living in orphanages. Most of the complaints were lodged by relatives of the children.

The UNICEF report suggests a large number of cases of child institutionalisation could be avoided if better programmes were implemented to support families. "A clearer focus on family in child care policies could strengthen awareness about the rights to protection and care to which every child is entitled," UNICEF said. Currently Sri Lanka has no such policies in place.

Sri Lanka also currently lacks programmes to help reunite children with their families, according to the NCPA. However, the Ministry of Child Development and Women's Empowerment said that it is soon planning to initiate a programme so that children can be reunited with their families, thus reducing the number of children in orphanages.

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