In this season of Lent, we’re on a break from new episodes and are re-running a conversation from 2023 that we had with global child welfare professionals Dr. Greg Burch, Kelly Strong, and Dan Hope. We’ll look at cases where westerners were given access to vulnerable children in the Global South and then abused those children. We’ll explore the significance of cultivating cultures of awareness around child protection. We’ll get into the importance of establishing robust policies and systems designed to mitigate the risks associated with child abuse and exploitation. By fostering environments that prioritize vigilance and the well-being of children, we can better identify and prevent abuses, ultimately ensuring their safety and welfare.
Category Archives: Orphan Care
Building a Coalition to Welcome Children Home with Tony Lewry
A multitude of orphanages in the Global South continue to be supported by well-meaning Christians throughout the world. Research and scripture both indicate that God’s design for children is to grow up in a family, but what do we do when it’s the church that needs to be convinced of this? Brandon Stiver is joined today by Tony Lewry who shares his experience in orphan care and cross-cultural ministry over the years as we dive into what it looks like to change mindsets and practices in these global chains of care. Tony leads The Homecoming Project and coordinates across a coalition of organizations tackling the issue of children outside of parental care. In our conversation, Tony and Brandon discuss the evolution of family-based care, the challenges and successes of implementing foster care, and the vital role of the church in advocating for vulnerable children.
Reviewing Masaka Kids Movie with Dr. Laura Horvath
In this episode of Think Global, Do Justice, Brandon Stiver and Dr. Laura Horvath critically analyze the Netflix documentary ‘Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within.’ They discuss the portrayal of orphanages, the commodification of children, and the importance of family and community in child welfare. The conversation highlights the need for systemic change in how society addresses the needs of vulnerable children, emphasizing that the core deprivation of orphans is not just lack of resources, but lack of family connections. After the interview, Brandon shares a few podcast updates as we wrap up 2025.
Addressing Unregistered Orphanages with Obed Masese and Meredith Caleb
If our commitment is that every child grow up in a safe and loving family, how do we address that so many children are living in orphanages that are unregistered and operating outside of the public eye? It’s challenging work to map, find and even collaborate with such institutions, but we’ve got the right guides to learn from. Brandon is joined today by Obed Masese and Meredith Caleb of Victory Child Empowerment to learn what is causing children in Kenya to go into orphanages of all types and what their team is doing to map unregistered orphanages with a broader care reform approach.
Care Reform in an Urbanizing Africa with Chantry Mweemba
Families are the center piece of how God created societies to flourish, yet there are so many things that can tear down this fundamental part of God’s design. We know that orphanages are spread out throughout the world and we know that those children should be allowed to grow up in families. In today’s episode, we have Chantry Mweemba of Alliance for Children Everywhere joining to dive deeper into the effects of urbanization, education access and other factors that are leading children in Zambia to separate from their families. We also get into how the recent USAID closure is negatively affecting the protection of children in Zambia and how organizations like ACE are continuing to step up for children even in the midst of uncertain times.
Summer Break, Updates and Honoring Our Founder Phil Darke
It has been four years since Phil invited Brandon to take over the podcast and the conversations since then (and all the way back to Phil’s founding of the podcast in 2016) have been rich, uplifting and led to the equipping of people throughout the world to care for the vulnerable. In this mid-year episode, we’re preparing to take a month off from releasing episodes, but there’s an even bigger transition for our podcast community. This is a conversation for those in this community. Join this personal conversation with Phil and Brandon as we pursue God with open hands.
Money, Orphan Care and Voluntourism with Barak Laub
There’s no denying that western money in Global South countries has a profound impact, for better or worse. We might assume that spending money on volunteering and caring for orphans would be a net positive in the majority world. That however is not the case. As we dive back into the conversation around orphan care and volunteering, we’re joined by filmmaker Barak Laub whose new documentary Volunteers Needed delves into this very dynamic in Nepal. He talks with Brandon Stiver about the film, his travels and the effort to advocate for government policies in the US that would mitigate harm in global orphan care.
A Jewish Understanding of James 1:27 with Dr. Andrea Siegel
James 1:27 has long been a central biblical text from which our podcast community has drawn from. But to what extent have we delved into the depths of the Jewish context in which James wrote? To help us go deeper on this text and the social implications of true religion, we’ve invited Dr. Andrea Siegel to the show. Dr. Siegel has years of experience in humanitarian work, Hebrew studies and counseling and brings that to the text as the curriculum writer on Helping Children Worldwide’s most recent orphan care resource. If you want to hear some things about James 1:27 that you’ve never heard before, this is a podcast to check out.
Balancing Tensions in Children’s Rights
The most effective approaches to doing justice will acknowledge nuance and there is wisdom in maintaining tensions in the work God has called us to. Central to the work of global development is how we work among at risk children and youth and there are a lot of principles to balance in that space. In this solo episode of the podcast, Brandon Stiver breaks down a number of paradigms that children’s rights advocates and practitioners operate within as we hope to find the right balance that will allow children to flourish and be fully who God created them to be.
The Underbelly of Anti-Trafficking and Orphan Care Work with Erin Foley
There are so many needs within the work of anti-trafficking and orphan care, but what happens when people that are engaging as helpers are actually doing harm. Ego, poor practice and a desire for appearances can corrupt organizations that purport to be doing good. As a practitioner and journalist working in Southeast Asia, Erin Foley has been around the block working in organizations and comes onto the show today to share some of what she’s seen and learned doing missions and nonprofit work over the years. She also shares about some of the great organizations she’s worked with and about her most recent project, the recently published book “Where They Belong” which chronicles the movement of family care in Cambodia.
Canopy International 