The Growth of Tourism and Residential Care

Over the past few decades, Cambodia has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing tourist destinations. The influx of foreign visitors has also fuelled a profitable voluntourism industry, attracting travellers who volunteer with local social programmes. According to estimates calculated by UNICEF, the total population of orphans within Cambodia decreased substantially between 2009 and 2014 as political stability and public health outcomes improved. Despite this positive trend, the number of registered residential facilities supposedly catering to orphans almost tripled from roughly 150 in 2005 to over 400 institutions by 2019.

The Commercial Mechanics of Voluntourism

The steady demand for short-term volunteer placements from Western travellers has turned residential care into a market-driven industry. Foreign visitors frequently pay large placement fees to work briefly in nurseries or school environments, creating a lucrative revenue stream for host organisations. Research conducted by Tess Guiney from the University of Otago, New Zealand notes that many of these centres rely directly on the regular financial contributions of foreign tourists. This financial dependency can create a strong institutional incentive to keep beds occupied by children to secure ongoing funding.

Performance-Based Orphanages

In some cases, low-income families in rural areas are persuaded to give up custody of their children in hopes of improved educational and economic opportunities. Research conducted by Amanda Miller and Harriot Beazley in Siem Reap documented children living in a performance-based orphanage who regularly interacted with tourists and participated in activities designed to attract visitors and donations. Children performed traditional dances, sold handicrafts, and participated in organised visits intended to encourage donations from foreign visitors. These activities can generate additional income for institutions while reinforcing an emotional appeal to donors. Such practices turn children’s vulnerabilities into a fundraising tool, particularly when poor living conditions or visible deprivation are used to encourage larger donations from foreign visitors.

The Psychological Toll of Voluntourism on Children

Child protection organisations, such as the Cambodian Children’s Trust, document a consistent pattern of psychological and physical harm that is structurally embedded in how these facilities operate. The high turnover of short-term, untrained volunteers without necessary background checks is a central mechanism of this harm. Friends International, a leading child protection organisation, has warned of the psychological consequences of short-term volunteering. Children often develop strong emotional attachments to visiting adults. When those volunteers depart, the relationship ends abruptly, creating a cycle that can contribute to attachment disorders. The Cambodian Children’s Trust notes that when children repeatedly try to form emotional connections with different adults, their brain architecture does not develop properly, which can lead to lifelong mental health issues. Sinet Chan, a care-leaver and board member of the trust who spent nearly a decade inside an orphanage, has observed that volunteers “do not know their actions are hurting children.” Under the impression of philanthropy, voluntourists become complicit in the exploitation of children.

A System Vulnerable to Abuse

The safety risks extend beyond psychological damage. A 2019 report by the Australian Institute of Criminology, authored by Samantha Lyneham and Lachlan Facchini, concludes that the growth of orphanage and voluntourism creates direct opportunities for child sexual exploitation. The system enables unsupervised contact between vulnerable children and potential offenders with no background checks or institutional safeguards in place. The report classifies the recruitment of a child into a facility for exploitation or profit as a form of both modern slavery and child trafficking, a practice it terms “orphanage trafficking.” These vulnerabilities are not merely theoretical. Criminal cases have demonstrated how unregulated access to children can be abused. One example is Daniel Stephen Johnson, a U.S. citizen who operated an unlicensed Cambodian centre under the guise of missionary work. In 2019, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for sexually abusing minors at the facility.

Legal Obligations and Actions taken by the Government

The Cambodian government has taken legislative measures to improve the economic state of children. Cambodia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. As a result, it is legally obligated under Article 20 of the convention to protect displaced children and under Articles 34 and 39 to safeguard them from abuse and exploitation. Following a campaign to recognise unregulated residential facilities as places of detention under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Cambodia’s Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) endorsed a national action plan to address the issue. The initiative sought to map residential care centres across the country and enforce minimum standards for their operation. In response, a reintegration programme was introduced in partnership with NGOs, including the Cambodian Children’s Trust, to resource that families are bringing children back into their own homes. Through these interventions, Cambodia closed 35 percent of its residential institutions and decreased the total child population inside them by 54 percent.

International Policy Changes and Sustainable Aid

The psychological and safety risks facing children in these facilities have prompted policy responses beyond Cambodia’s borders. The Parliament of Australia became the first national legislature to classify short-term orphanage voluntourism as a form of modern slavery and human trafficking. In doing so, it sought to curb the stream of volunteer funding that had long sustained the sector’s growth. Child welfare experts such as ReThink Orphanages and ECPAT International argue that such travel regulations must be adjusted globally to fully dismantle market demand. According to UNICEF, channelling donor capital into family preservation initiatives, rural education infrastructure, and community social workers would empower local families to stay together. This pivot would support Cambodia in moving past transactional volunteer models and meet its human rights duties to protect children.