Concept in Definition ABC

The term orphanage refers to a institution aimed at caring for disadvantaged children. As for the term, it comes from the Greek orphanos, which literally means deprived of parents. In this sense, this institution shelters and cares especially for orphaned children, but also for those whose parents have lost legal custody of their child for some reason.

In some cases, orphanages, also known as orphanages or reception centers, minors are cared for pending possible adoption by someone. family. In any case, when the minors reach the age of majority, they can leave the institution in which they reside.

What rule In general, orphanages are usually public entities although in some cases there may be a participation of private entities or institutions religious.

An approach to the situation of orphaned children

The orphan situation is a handicap for any minor. It must be taken into account that the father and mother figure and the family environment are essential elements in personal growth and in the education of any child.

Regarding the causes that originate this situation, they are of a different nature: parental abandonment, situations of poverty extreme, family breakdowns, armed conflicts, diseases, etc.

The stay in an orphanage can be temporary or for a long time. If the orphan child has parents, an attempt is made to keep the child and the parents in contact. If the child has been abandoned by his parents, it is called a foundling. In any case, the care of minors in these residences is aimed at their comprehensive care, which means that in these centers there is no Only children are welcomed but an attempt is made to offer them all kinds of services and care (education, medical assistance, a family environment, etc).

Orphan children in fiction

The term orphanage has logical negative connotations. In fact, that an orphan child ends up in this type of institution is the consequence of some unfortunate situation. However, the bad image of orphanages is given by the literature and the movie theater. There are many stories that focus on the lives of children in these centers.

In Charlotte Brontë's novel "Jane Eyre" the protagonist lives a period of her childhood in a gloomy center for orphans. The story of the novel "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens also tells of the seedy and dehumanized environment of orphanages. On the other hand, in world literature and in history itself, the subject of the child has been extensively dealt with. abandoned who finally becomes a hero, as has happened with characters like Moses, Hercules or Romulus and Remus.

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