ABTA warns gap year students to be wary of volunteering overseas

ABTA is warning students considering a gap year that they could do more harm than good if they volunteer at overseas orphanages and animal sanctuaries.

Issuing advice to students on the day they that thousands receive their A-level results, the travel association urged them to do their research before heading abroad.

More than 31,000 college students took a gap year in 2017, many of them heading overseas on volunteering trips, but ABTA said there was growing concern that working in orphanages could be damaging.

"There is growing evidence orphanages can negatively affect the children who are in this environment and by working in orphanages, volunteers can inadvertently cause harm to children," it said.

"ABTA has been taking an active role in supporting child safeguarding for many years and advises people to move away from volunteering in orphanages."

Earlier this year, Harry Potter author J K Rowling spoke out against gap year students working in orphanages, saying they were inadvertently propping up institutions that abused children.

"Young people from the West, with the best intentions I have to say, often think the thing to do on their gap year is to go and volunteer in an orphanage," she said at the time.

"They may not realise it, but they are driving what is sometimes a lucrative business model, they are keeping the institution open as a magnet for funding or private donations, they are driving a system that we know from eighty sound years of research irreparably harms children."

Volunteering in community schools is better than working in orphanages, says Rowling

Similarly, ABTA urged young people to adequately research animal sanctuaries before volunteering.

"If you are considering volunteering in an animal sanctuary, be aware that a genuine sanctuary should have a no-breeding policy and that physical contact should only take place for essential management or veterinary purposes," it said.

ABTA director of destinations and sustainability Nikki White added: "Thousands of young people will head off on their gap year over the next 12 months and many of them will be looking to put this time to good use by volunteering.

"It is very important that students use the services of a reputable company, which will ensure that they have the appropriate training and supervision whilst overseas.

"Volunteering can provide unforgettable experiences and make a very real difference for local communities but it can also lead to intense disappointment or in some cases do actual harm if it is not managed properly, so it is incredibly important that you take your time and do thorough research before committing to a project."

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