After the number of Cambodian orphanages skyrocketed, government reforms are looking to place more children with their relatives

By Janelle Retka, Chhorn Phearun and Kong Meta in Battambang province

“Oui,” 16-year-old Sok Ly said with a smile, her elbows on a table in the head office of the Borey Kok Ma Battambang II orphanage, where she has lived for the past seven years. “I’m happy here – I love it.”

The seventh grader plans to be a nurse, so she began French courses a few months ago, since that’s the primary language of medical education in Cambodia. She spends hours after school poring over books at the campus library here in Battambang town’s Slaket commune, then heads out around 6pm for private French lessons paid for by the state-run residential centre. She rarely responds with the Khmer jaa – or “yes” – opting instead for the sound of her adopted language.

But Ly is not an orphan. Instead, she is among the estimated 80 percent of children who live in residential care institutions (RCIs) – or orphanages – across Cambodia despite having at least one living parent.

The vast majority of those children have been sent to institutions by their families in search of a better education, and many may now be returned home amid sweeping government reforms of orphanages. The plan calls for identifying and returning home children with parents or extended family members. In all, the goal is for 30 percent of the country’s orphanage population to head home.

READ THIS LONG ANALYSIS HERE http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-depth/after-number-cambodian-orphanages-skyrocketed-government-reforms-are-looking-place-more

 

-- © Copyright Phenom Pen Post 02/11