Chinese Orphanage Conditions

Every Chinese orphanage is different.  Some are bright and well kept up while others are very dark and dirty.  I have heard many different stories about Chinese orphanages, some of them good and some of them devastating.  Sadly, most of them are devastating and it makes you sick to think about it. My Aunt Jane wasn’t taken to an orphanage when she got Laynie, but her best friend Ellen was when she adopted her little girl, Rachel.  I interviewed Ellen and asked her questions about the conditions of Rachel’s orphanage and if they were better than what she expected.  “Rachel's orphanage was very very modern and decorated with Little Tykes toys, had a TV and a foam mat on the floor along with walkers and very up to date safe toys.  At her orphanage it was a large municipal Children's home that had either 600 or 800 children of all ages including a clinic hooked on to the orphanage that had physical therapy for disabled children, etc ... Rachel was in an orphanage that had a program called Half the Sky that sponsored children and gave an update to the families that sponsored them monthly. The program trained "nannies" so they bonded and had a regular room so as the children knew them. They learned to hold them with eye contact, snuggle time, etc... Rachel's room had 10 babies in little wooden cribs with blankets.  The orphanage was way better than my husband, Mark and I expected. There were 5 babies from our orphanage and 3 from another one. The other families said how poor an orphanage theirs was with no blankets in wooden slated beds, no toys, very very poor and dirty. They thought ours looked like the Hilton in comparison” (Wylie, Interview).  I was very happy to hear about how great their orphanage was, but sad to hear about the orphanage with no blankets and wooden beds.  It’s so strange how you can have one orphanage be so good, and have an orphanage down the street from it that is so bad.  The first few days with Rachel were quiet, and she slowly learned to trust Ellen and Mark.  “We went to visit the orphanage on day 5 after getting her. Hind sight I wish we had not taken her to visit with us.  She was 18 months and I think in her little mind, when I leaned in to take a photo of her by the bed that had been hers, she cried the most pathetic heart wrenching cry as I think she truly thought we were bringing her back.  She clung on and would not go to any of the workers either, which made me happy. They talked to her and she just nestled in, as I had her in a front sling. When we left and boarded the bus to head back to our hotel she was smiley and laughing almost like she was relieved to be leaving.  I do wish we knew what was going thru her little mind at 18 months” (Wylie, Interview).  I often wondered what was going on in Laynie’s mind after she was adopted too.  Even though Rachel’s orphanage conditions were good and she knew the nannies, she was relieved to be leaving with Ellen and Mark because in only three days she realized how much more attention and love she was getting from them that she didn’t receive in the orphanage.