Last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior released a horrendous report showing that at least 900 Native American children died in the care of U.S. boarding schools — facilities they were forced to attend.
From the early 1800s, tens of thousands of Native American children were sent to boarding schools throughout the U.S. under the guise of education, but with the express intent to separate them from their cultural heritage. What’s worse, horrific physical and sexual abuse took place in these institutions, destroying whatever was left of these children’s already fractured sense of identity and innocence.
This new report is a critical acknowledgment from the U.S. of its appalling system of “forced assimilation,” but it’s not enough. In America today, it’s easy to see these programs as a profound, unnecessary evil — something we’d never allow again. The reality is, these horrific stories are not just in our past. Residential education, and the devastating harms that often accompany it, still exists around the world today, and Americans are feeding into the problem.
An extensive body of research shows that residential care in its many forms — including orphanages and children’s homes — is a deeply problematic setting for a child to live and develop. Residential education in many cases fulfills the definition of an institution and causes similar harm to children. Children in residential facilities face an increased risk of abuse and often have a damaged sense of belonging and emotional health.
To make matters worse, boarding schools are typically regulated by ministries of education and are often established in remote locations where abuse can occur in darkness. The lack of oversight intrinsically lends itself to students enduring abusive practices of various kinds from staff, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
This type of residential care has been a longstanding global problem. Despite the issues, residential education continues to be justified across the world, especially for children with disabilities or from minority groups. Families may send their children into residential education for a number of reasons, including poverty, as these programs often also offer children food, accommodation and other necessities that their families are not able to provide. For families of children with disabilities, residential education may be the only type of education available.
One reason this model lives on despite the research is support from well-meaning Americans and other Westerners. Particularly in the U.S., people see educating a child, especially one in poverty, as an act of benevolence. They continue to widely fund organizations that offer residential education.
Similar to Americans who support orphanages abroad, the motivation is pure, but the action is misguided.
Meanwhile, in many countries, boarding schools are still seen as prestigious, even by the families sending their children away. But a good education and growing up in a family should not be mutually exclusive. In fact, a safe, loving family is the most essential source of belonging, emotional support, educational development, and physical and mental wellness for children. When a child grows up in a family, he or she gains necessary knowledge and skills for healthy development that boarding schools cannot provide.
When Native American children were deliberately separated from their families in the U.S., those two rights — to family and education — were placed in opposition to the other. And today, children placed in residential education are still being denied those rights.
But to create lasting change, awareness of the harms of residential care and the overwhelming benefits of supporting families staying together must grow. From governments to education ministries to individual families and donors, a mindset shift needs to happen. All actors must understand that children can receive the benefits a good quality education offers them while staying with their family, a combination that nurtures healthy development, stability and long-standing connection within their community. One right should not come at the expense of the other.
Educating a child is a noble goal, but it should never cause harm. Americans and Westerners who currently support children, or organizations involved in any form of residential care, should shift their support toward those whose focus is instead to keep children in their families while they receive their education. There are numerous organizations currently doing this family-centered work, but it needs reinforcement.
Children have the right to education. We don’t need to separate them from their families in order to deliver it. Keeping families together benefits children, society as a whole and, ultimately, each one of us.
Enrique Restoy is the director of Programmes at Lumos Foundation.