By Jian Chen, China Program Director; and Beth Smith, China Social Services Director
If you could choose anything in the world,” I once asked a girl in an orphanage in China, “anything at all, what would that be?”
“I just want a home,” she answered, “with a daddy, a mommy and a sister.” Then she added, “A brother would probably be okay.”
That was ten years ago. Today more than 3,000 children have come home to American families through Holt International Children’s Services. So much has changed for homeless children in China. Over the last ten years Holt has helped improve the care for thousands of children and assisted orphanages around China.
The opportunities for children in China’s orphanages to find homes are so much greater now. Recognizing the immense benefits for children, the government lifted quotas limiting the number of children allowed to be adopted overseas if they can’t find a home locally. Recently all orphanages in China have been given permission to release children for adoption internationally.
Support from donors and adoptive families have helped orphanages improve the children’s care, enabled them to receive needed medical treatment and spread the use of foster care. To facilitate adoptions better, the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has shortened the processing from 14 months to the current 7 to 8 months. (This is the time from when a family submits their dossier to Beijing until that family receives their referral of a child).
In the early days of our work in China, the critical focus was simply to help children get homes so they would not die. We were literally saving lives through adoption. Nowadays, many more children have their physical needs well taken care of by institutions and foster parents.
Still, thousands of children in China continue to need parents of their own. Many children go to orphanages in small towns away from the mainstream. Adoption is largely unknown in these remote areas. And that’s why we are appealing for more families to adopt from China.
Just last week one of our staff in China was escorting a group of orphanage children on a day outing. The children were thrilled to be outside the institution walls. They were leaping with joy to visit a real zoo and play in an amusement park, an adventure almost beyond their imaginations. In the midst of the jumping and excited shouts, a little girl shyly approached our staff person there, pulled on her hand and whispered in her ear.
“A-yi (Aunty), can you find me a mommy?” In these simple words this little girl expressed the dearest wish of thousands of children. And I’m immediately reminded of this same exact wish expressing a child’s hopes and dreams ten years earlier.
So much remains to be done. In just one province in China, thousands of abandoned children entered orphanages last year. We were able to help only 250 of them find homes of any kind, including foster homes. We helped only 4 of the 80 orphanages in that province. Huge numbers of children are still desperately wishing that same wish from the bottom of their hearts—“I want a mommy. I want a daddy”—with little hope.
Our job is not done until each one of these children finds a home of his or her own. And this task continues with the same urgency because children cannot wait.
Dedicated to Children
Since China expanded international opportunities for placing children from social welfare institutes around the country, more children wait for families of their own.
When families choose to adopt a child from China, they enter one of the most stable, consistent and reliable of all international adoption programs. China has shown a strong commitment to children through its ethical and consistent adoption process, and we at Holt share in this commitment to the welfare of homeless children in China.
Our families frequently tell us that it is the quality of Holt’s work in China and our services to adoptive families throughout the process that distinguishes us. Holt’s 25 mainland China staff assist families in every step of the adoption travel in China. That, combined with our knowledgeable, friendly U.S. staff provides families with thorough information and guidance through the entire adoption process.
As always, we look to Holt families to spread the word about the needs of children in China. You can help us meet the needs of China’s children, by recommending Holt to those who are considering adoption. We are committed to providing families with the best services available, and we are dedicated to improving the care of homeless children in China.
