34. The Movement of Closing Down Orphanages with Julie Walton

Welcome back to Around the World with The Archibald Project! In today's episode we're talking with Julie Walton, an active, longterm volunteer and advocate for an organization in Sri Lanka. Not only has Julie visited Sri Lanka as often as she can for the past 6 years to serve a program called Kidz Net, she has also begun working towards her Masters of Arts in International Affairs. In 2015 after learning about a movement of global policy makers are starting called Deinstitutionalization, Julie being deeply troubled began thinking "Somebody ought to do something about this." She felt so passionate about the need for an educated person working towards helpful policies for those working daily to serve orphaned and vulnerable children that she quit her job and starting working towards becoming that person. In today's interview you'll hear Julie's passion for policies to be made through thorough research on the types of group foster homes that many organizations are running around the world verses data from Eastern Europe and Russian Institutions. Julie shares that policy makers are studying these Institutions and using the research found to push the movement of closing down all children's homes worldwide.  Our podcast today is not us sharing our opinion rather we are interviewing someone who has become educated on the subject and who has devoted her life to understanding policies and their makers.  Of course this episode doesn't solely focus on the deinstitutionalization movement, we discus our most recent trip to Sri Lanka with Kidz Net, we explain what Kidz Net is and why their work is so important and of course give you a little sneak into Season 2 of our Orphan Care Travel Show, The Advocates!