Foster Families for Orphaned Children in China
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Ten Permanent Foster Families Funded! Thank you Donors!
By Patricia King - , August 06, 2007 04:22 PM
Thanks to the incredible support of Global Giving’s donors, Half the Sky has been able to fund 10 permanent foster families in Nanjing and Chongqing. Each foster family lives in a newly renovated apartment and provides loving care for 4-6 children whose special needs mean they will never be adopted.
In Nanjing, the new foster families settled into their apartments a month before the extended Chinese New Year holidays. For the holidays, the Zhu family bought new clothes for the children. On New Year’s Eve the whole family gathered together and listened as firecrackers went off outside their home. The next morning these children who had previously celebrated their holidays in the orphanage, were off to grandma’s home where their uncles, aunts and gave them some pocket money, snacks and gifts. “It was the first time the children felt the warm kinship of a big family. We felt so gratified and tender when we saw their happy smiles,” say the Zhus.
After only three months, living for the first time in permanent, loving families has led to major developmental milestones for the children in Nanjing and Chongqing, including Ping An and Lan:
When PingAn became part of the Zhu family he couldn’t speak. His proud foster family reports: “We never gave up teaching him to speak. At the beginning, we taught him about conversations with lip movements. PingAn is smart and learned quickly. Soon, he could communicate with us and even utter some sounds with a soft voice. Now, he can speak some simple words.”
When 2.5 year old Lan joined the Li family, she had had surgery to repair her cleft lip and palate, but she refused to communicate in any way. Say the Lis: “When we talked to her she just cried. She just stayed in her room and didn’t come out.” Her parents patiently encouraged her to communicate and play with the other children and with them: “Gradually, she began to play with us. When we have visitors, she doesn’t cry and even asks them for a hug.” Lan has not yet started to speak but, “We see more and more smiles on her face…We all love her very much.”
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