We have exciting news about our Put Children First: End Orphanage Care campaign, and we urgently need your help!

Email your TD

This Wednesday, January 25th 11am-12noon we will have an opportunity to present on the campaign at the Dail AV Room. In order for our message to be heard by members of the government, we need to get as many politicians as possible to be present. 

Could you please urge your TD to attend the campaign briefing in the Dáil AV Room on Wednesday, January 25th at 11am? Find your TD email here. Find the template of the email below.

Attend the hearing or/and the photocall

If you are in Dublin on the day and would like to attend, please email chris@comhlamh.org. We need to send a list of attendees to our host in advance of the event but would like to bring as big a crowd as possible.

If you can’t come to the Dail, feel free to join us for the photoshoot afterwards at 12 noon at the Dail gates, Kildare St. We hope to see you there!

Sign the pledge

You can also help us gather more support and reach at least 1000 pledge signatures by the 25th of January, ahead of the meeting. Simply sign the pledge and share it on social media or ask at least 2 friends to sign it too. It could help us show the public support behind the campaign to our political leaders.

SIGN THE PLEDGE

EMAIL TEMPLATE

A chara,

I am writing to you as my local representative to request that you attend a briefing in the Dáil AV Room on Wednesday, January 25th at 11am, to hear about the Put Children First: End Orphanage Care Campaign. This is an issue that I consider very important as it relates to the safety and wellbeing of children globally. I strongly urge you to go along to learn more about how Ireland can become an active force for positive change in this area.

Did you know, that of the estimated 5.4 million children living in institutions worldwide, more than 80% of them have at least one living parent? Poverty, lack of access to health and education and discrimination are critical drivers of that institutionalisation. As international research demonstrates, institutional care is typically harmful to children’s health, development and wellbeing.

Volunteering in, donations and visits to orphanages – including from Ireland – add to this harm and help to prop up the model through support from well-meaning volunteers, tourists and donors. These findings are codified in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the Rights of the Child 2019, which calls for the progressive replacement of institutions for children with family and community-based care. Like 192 other countries, Ireland has adopted this resolution.

The AV Room session will feature talks by a Kenyan care expert with lived experience of growing up in an institution, as well as by members of Irish volunteer sending agencies and NGOs who will outline how Ireland’s government can support the global care reform movement.

I believe that Ireland can be a leader on this issue and I am calling on you to come along and learn about how to make that happen.

I hope you, or a staff member, will make the time to be there for this critical discussion.

I would be much obliged if you would kindly acknowledge receipt of this email and indicate whether you will be present or represented on the day.

Kind regards,

Your name

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