Hope and Homes for Children

21/08/2026

The Premier League kicks off again today. Which got us thinking… if Wembley Stadium has a capacity of 90,000... how many Wembleys would it take to hold every child living in an orphanage in the world’s most fragile regions?

You’d need 13 Wembleys to hold the up to 1.2 million children living in orphanages in the world’s most fragile regions. And 80% of them are not orphans.

Know more : https://www.hopeandhomes.org/why-it-matters/why-orphanages-harm-children/

Help us get more children

20/08/2026

Three iconic names. One unforgettable night.

🎤 Huey Morgan
🎤 Stereo MC’s
🎧 Brandon Block

Join us for Back to the 90s at Soho Farmhouse on 1 October.

Three-course dinner. Drinks. Live performances. DJ sets. Dancing until midnight.

Tickets from £270

And every ticket helps Hope and Homes for Children bring separated children back to their families.

👉 Book your place: https://www.hopeandhomes.org/get-involved/events-challenges/back-to-the-90s-an-unforgettable-evening-at-soho-farmhouse/

19/08/2026

Brenda Kariuki, Director of Global Advocacy at Hope and Homes for Children, makes an important point about what it really means to empower local communities.

This World Humanitarian Day, we’re asking the humanitarian sector to look at the populations it still doesn’t fully see — including the 1.2 million children living in orphanages across the world’s most fragile regions.

80% of these children are not orphans. They have a living parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt or uncle. They are in orphanages because systems failed them, not because they have no one to go home to.

When conflict hits, these children can be trapped in institutions, cut off from collapsing supply chains and exposed to trafficking, with no legal guardian to search for them.

At Hope and Homes for Children, we believe empowering local communities means more than consultation. It means authorship of the response — with local professionals leading family strengthening, kinship placement, community reintegration and government partnership.

If we are serious about , these children must be part of the humanitarian response too.

Brenda has written more about this, including why we need to Get Them Back to Family Before the Next Conflict.

Read More: https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog/marking-world-humanitarian-day/

World Humanitarian Day: why children in orphanages must be included in locally led humanitarian action and returned to family.

14/08/2026

What would you tell your future self?

asked young people around the world to write a letter to their future selves , a reminder to keep believing in the power of philanthropy to empower young people.

Because as time passes, institutional pressures grow, and priorities change, it can be easy to lose sight of what matters most: young people are not just beneficiaries, they are partners, leaders and changemakers

Here’s what OVM SA’s Nomkhosi had to say.

https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/listen-before-i-lead/

For International Youth Day 2026, we asked young people around the world to write a letter to their future selves as a reminder to keep believing in the power of philanthropy to empower young people, …

14/08/2026

Recent research shows 1 in 5 children in the world are living in a conflict zone right now. Andrii was one of them.

When war came to Ukraine, 12-year-old Andrii and his mother fled together. They found shelter among thousands of other displaced families. Then one day, she didn't come back. And he never saw her again.

Serhii and Yuliia had registered months earlier to help a child like him. When the call came, they didn't hesitate they went straight to the hospital where Andrii was staying, and knew immediately they'd made the right decision.

He arrived withdrawn, and years behind at school as he'd never been properly taught to read or write. With our support, Andrii got a tutor, a psychologist, a speech therapist. Slowly, for the first time, he started to believe in himself.

When Serhii and Yuliia were finally granted legal guardianship, Andrii marked the date in his calendar. He calls it his second birthday.

Today he's cheerful, curious, and mad about cycling. Every separated child has a family they belong to, or a family waiting to be found.

12/08/2026

This International Youth Day, we’re celebrating what can happen when young people’s voices are not only heard, but trusted.

Bilal Kovačević grew up in the social protection system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He experienced firsthand what it feels like when decisions about your life are made without you.

For Bilal, participating in youth network meetings organised by Hope and Homes for Children was a turning point. For the first time, he experienced what it meant for young people to be genuinely listened to.

Those encounters helped him recognise that his experiences were not only individual, but part of a broader systemic problem.

What began as an informal network of young people sharing their experiences eventually became IUVENTUS — an organisation led by young people with care experience, supporting young people through education, mentorship and the transition to independence, while advocating for their meaningful participation in decisions that affect their lives.

Six years on, Bilal reflects on the support that helped make that journey possible:

“Young people already have knowledge, experience, and ideas. What they need is trust and the chance to turn them into concrete results.”

His experience reflects a principle at the heart of Our Voices Matter: young people should not simply be consulted about decisions that affect them. They should be involved from the very beginning and recognised as equal partners in shaping change.

This International Youth Day, we’re celebrating young people as agents of change — and recognising the importance of creating the space, trust and opportunity for them to turn their experience and ideas into action.

Read Bilal’s story and discover how a youth network grew into an organisation actively contributing to systemic change. 👇

https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog/iuventus-from-the-voice-of-youth-to-a-movement-that-changes-the-system/



Udruženje za djecu i mlade u Bosni i Hercegovini "Iuventus"

10/08/2026

We’ve taken the new Moomin character quiz… and discovered which Moomin we’re most like!

Have you done it yet? Which character did you get?

It’s a little bit of fun, but it’s also a lovely reminder of something we all have in common: we each have our own personality, strengths and sense of belonging.

And every child deserves the chance to discover who they are while growing up surrounded by people who know, love and care for them — in a family.

We’re proud to be part of the Moomin community, helping shine a light on why family matters.

Take the quiz, share your result, and tell us: who did you get? 👇

Hope and Homes for Children and Moomin have come together because every child deserves the love, safety and belonging that only a family can provide.

Today, millions of children are growing up in orphanages around the world. Most are not orphans—they have families who could care for them with the right support.

Together, we can help bring children Back to Family.

Know more : https://www.hopeandhomes.org/moomin/

05/08/2026

🇺🇦 When Mykhailo and Igor’s mother died, their uncle Kyrylo drove across a warzone to find them and bring them home with him.

Kyrylo knew it would be hard to provide the boys with the medical treatments and support they needed to recover from their trauma, so he reached out to one of our Ukrainian teams for help.

We provided Kyrylo with financial support so he could buy essentials like school supplies and medicines, and access the specialised psychological support for the boys. Now, they’re rebuilding their lives and growing up as part of loving family.

💛 Your support can help us ensure that other children like Mykhailo and Igor get the support they so urgently need, and don’t end up trapped in orphanages.

🔗 You can find out more about Kyrylo, Mykhailo and Igor here

https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog/kyrylo-story/

31/07/2026

In March, the UN made history for children the world has struggled to count.

For the first time, there is a global standard for measuring how many children live apart from their families in orphanages and other institutions, and what happens to them there.

The new framework, known as ICare, was developed by an international expert group that included our colleagues Victoria Olarte and Stephen Ucembe.

Why does this matter?

An estimated 5.4 million children are living in institutions around the world. Until now, countries have used different approaches to collecting and reporting data. As a result, governments have often had to make decisions about funding, policy and services without a clear understanding of how many children were affected or what happened to them over time.

The reality is simple: we cannot reform systems that we cannot measure, and we cannot hold governments accountable for children who do not appear in official records.

ICare alone will not transform care systems. But it represents a major step towards greater visibility, stronger accountability and better protection for millions of children.

The children we count are the children we can protect.

Read Victoria Olarte’s reflections on the launch here:

https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog/icare-counting-children-in-alternative-care/

The UN has endorsed ICare, the first global standard for counting children in alternative care — here's what it means for children.

30/07/2026

5.4 million children are locked away in orphanages around the world. Over 80% of them are not orphans.

Some are there because a “child-finder” visited their community and promised free education, food and shelter their family couldn't afford.

What happens next is rarely what was promised. Children are sent out with donation tins. Photographed and filmed for donors they will never meet. Told to describe themselves as having no one — when many have parents, siblings, grandparents who would have cared for them, given the chance.

Orphanages expose children to abuse and trafficking, and physical and psychological trauma that can last a lifetime.

This World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, we're naming this for what it is: orphanage trafficking. A form of child exploitation that hides behind the language of charity.

The way to stop it isn't to stop caring. It's to move our support Back to Family — funding the services that let children stay with the people who love them, instead of the institutions that profit from keeping them apart.

Read the full story: https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog/orphanage-trafficking-a-childhood-for-sale/