Rethinking orphanages for the 21st century (1999) by American academic Richard B. McKenzie is a call to policy makers to reconsider orphanages as a viable alternative to other forms of family based care.

In the Forewood, Heidi Goldsmith states that most contemporary arguments against residential care are based on stereotypes formed from, for example, Charles Dickens’ depiction in his novel Oliver Twist (1838).

In the Introduction, Richard B. McKenzie – who was raised in an orphanage, https://www.careexperienceandculture.com/master/richard-b-mckenzie - argues that “foster care has become the worst of all forms of care – permanent temporary care”.

There follows 15 chapters exploring the theme including another by McKenzie (7. Orphanage Alumni: How They Have Done and How They Evaluate Their Experience) which includes the results of a survey – “the only known extensive survey of the alumni of orphanages” (p. 103) - which shows that 25% of respondents had received a tertiary degree & that there was a high % of doctorates in the group.