This report provides a succinct summary of the scale and shape of abuse and trafficking in Haiti’s orphanages and key recommendations for stakeholders to incorporate when seeking to tackle the multi-faceted problems of Haiti’s care services; in the process laying the foundations for Lumos’ future work in Haiti.

An estimated 30,000 children live in orphanages in Haiti, which are there because of combination of complex reasons – poverty, extreme weather conditions, disability, housing and lack of health and educations services. Since the 2010 earthquake, the good intentions of some international donors and volunteers have driven the development of the orphanage system. And that system is actively, unnecessarily and in many cases illegally, separating children from families and exposing them to risk of harm, abuse, and trafficking.