What is it like to grow up in an orphanage? What do residents themselves have to say about their experiences? Are there ways that orphanages can be designed to meet children's developmental needs and to provide them with necessities they are unable to receive in their home communities? In this book, detailed observations of children's daily life in a Cambodian orphanage are combined with follow-up interviews of the same children after they have grown and left the orphanage. Their thoughtful reflections show that the quality of care children receive is more important for their well-being than the site in which they receive it. Life in a Cambodian Orphanage situates orphanages within the social and political history of Cambodia, and shows that orphanages need not always be considered bleak sites of deprivation and despair. It suggests best practices for caring for vulnerable children regardless of the setting in which they are living.

Orphanage tourism is where tourist interactions with 'orphaned' children are central to traveller itineraries and experience making in less-developed contexts. While appealing to the desire of tourists and volunteers to 'do good' while travelling, underlining orphanage tourism is the fact that the vast majority of children (over 80%) in orphanages and allied care institutions are not orphans. Instead, children are often placed in institutions due to poverty and hardship, and as victims of human trafficking. In some cases, orphanages can be for-profit enterprises, where the commodification of good intentions begins and becomes embedded in the tourism supply chain. Children are becoming tourist attractions and the focus of tourist consumption, leading to orphanages as sites of tourism production and consumption. The first of its kind, this book highlights exploratory research that examines the links between modern slavery practices and orphanage tourism. Contributors include academics and practitioners with a long engagement in advocacy for the rights and protection of children and research into sustainable and responsible tourism. Written in an accessible manner that appeals to a broad audience. This book will appeal to researchers interested in the areas of tourism, human geography, development studies, childhood studies, law and social justice, as well as those interested in responsible and sustainable travel. Practitioners, policy makers and civil society groups working at the vanguard of tourism expansion and communities in less-developed contexts - particularly where labour rights transgressions, human exploitation and trafficking are prevalent - will also find the book insightful. Royalties from the sales of this book will be donated to Save the Children Australia and the Forget Me Not Foundation.