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.

Note that all podcasts before 2024 were under our old podcast name, Think Orphan.

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Conversation Notes

• Recurring cases of exploitation in overseas volunteerism (voluntourism) (14:00)
• The risk in naivety (17:00)
• Harming, not helping (21:30)
• The power dynamics that add to vulnerability (24:00)
• White saviors, colonialism, paternalism (27:00)
• Establishing policies and systems that mitigate risk (31:00)
• Creating cultures of awareness and protection (41:00)
• Developing national safeguarding processes (47:00)
• Risk involved with child sponsorship (57:00)
• How do we create reporting mechanisms for children (1:05:00)

Resources and Links from the show

SFAC Safeguarding Course

SFAC Homepage

Safe International Online

Jessup University Masters in Global Development and Justice

The Roys Report : Romanian Lawsuits Multiply Against Harvest Christian Fellowship and Pastor Greg Laurie

Research Paper : Child Sexual Exploitation in East African Orphanages