10 FACTS ABOUT ORPHANS IN CHINA

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China, being home to over 1.4 billion people, currently faces an issue of housing for one of its most vulnerable and impressionable demographics: orphans. These 10 facts about orphans in China will show how many orphans are brought in to the adoption system in infancy with little to no knowledge of the journey to come.

10 Facts About Orphans in China

Being an orphan does not necessarily mean that the child is parentless. In fact, many of the children seeking new homes have parents that are either unable to take care of them or have abandoned them for various reasons.
According to a 2016 statistic, there are currently more than 460,000 orphans in China. The exact number of orphans is undetermined, as the statistic may only show state-operated orphanages.
The vast majority of abandoned children suffer from severe birth defects and serious health issues. However, parents are unable to provide them with proper care; likewise, the state does not provide medical assistance for abandoned children.
Many children, usually newborns, are usually given to baby hatches. A baby hatch is a small home where parents drop off children, where they hopefully will be taken to an orphanage.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs began the baby hatch program as a response to the increasing number of abandoned infants. Currently, there are 32 baby hatches across China, and each hatch only accepts children from within the same city.
Children with disabilities are usually unable to find homes that can provide specific medical attention, and after a certain age, some live within senior homes.
Chinese orphanages are highly lacking in the proper education and medical resources needed for disabled children. As a result, disabled children are often excluded from activities necessary for social development.
According to the Adoption Law of the People’s Republic of China, children over the age of 14 become ineligible for international adoption, at which point they are either transferred to a senior living center or have to find work.
The potential parent of an adoptive child can refuse to adopt the child before the age of 10 without consent from the child. Once the child reaches 10 years of age, they are given the right to consent an adoptive relationship.
It is also understood that if the relationship between the child and the adoptive parent begins to negatively impact the child’s life, the adoption can be terminated through a mutual agreement.

These 10 facts about orphans in China shed some light on a large and controversial issue. Although China is able to provide a multitude of opportunities for jobless adults, enact laws on senior care and ensure its citizens are not left behind, there is very little knowledge of or care for welfare-seeking children. In hopes of combating these issues, organizations such as Rainbow Kids work alongside orphanages and other nonprofits to provide the education and parental assistance needed to ensure the children’s safety and well-being, giving them hope and opportunities for the future.

– Adreena Carr

Photo: Flickr

August Moon Celebration

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This review will better acquaint you with the origins of the festival, the traditional foods associated with it and the different ways it’s celebrated. This festival is one of many observed in China, which is home to a number of traditional celebrations.

Also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chinese Moon Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. It’s one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.

The Legend Behind the Fest

The Moon Festival is rooted in many different myths. Legend traces the story to a hero named Hou Yi, who lived during a time when there were 10 suns in the sky. This caused people to die, so Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns and was given an elixir by the Queen of Heaven to make him immortal. But Hou Yi didn’t drink the elixir because he wanted to remain with his wife, Chang’e (pronounced Chung-err). So, he told her to watch over the potion.

One day a student of Hou Yi tried to steal the elixir from her, and Chang’e drank it to foil his plans. Afterward, she flew to the moon, and people have prayed to her for fortune ever since. She’s presented with a variety of food offerings during the Moon Fest, and festival-goers swear that they can spot Chang’e dancing on the moon during the festival.

What Happens During the Celebration

The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes and sing moon poems. Together, the full moon, the legend, the family gatherings and the poems recited during the event make the festival a great cultural observance. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.

Although the Moon Festival is a place where families congregate, it is also considered a romantic occasion. The festival legend, after all, is about a couple, Hou Yi and Chang’e, who are madly in love and devoted to one another. Traditionally, lovers spent romantic nights at the event tasting delicious moon cake and drinking wine while watching the full moon.

The moon cake, however, isn’t just for couples. It is the traditional food consumed during the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky.

When circumstances prevent couples from getting together during the event, they pass the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems as if they are together for the night. A great number of poems has been devoted to this romantic festival.

As the Chinese have spread out across the globe, one needn’t be in China to partake in the Moon Festival. Celebrations are held in countries that are home to large Chinese populations.

Mooncake Recipe:

A few tips before starting your mooncakes

You need a kitchen scale to measure all the ingredients, accurate amount really matters to the final texture and taste.
Success mooncakes=well balanced taste+well wrapped fillings+well kept shape (including the clear pattern on surface)
If you are using homemade paste filling, make sure your paste is dry enough. Moist fillings might cause cracks on the skin.
Cover all the fillings and divided wrapper dough with plastic wrapper to prevent drying out.
Do not use too much flour to dust, otherwise it influences the pattern.
Mooncake assembling needs patience and skill. I even spoil my first one during this batch(as it is my first batch this year). But wearing plastic glovescan make the process easier. But be gentle and slow down when pushing the wrapper up.

Let’s start making the beautiful mooncakes.

Attention: The following recipe is based on 7: 3 (filling vs wrapper) for 14 moon cakes around 50g. If you want to use ratio 8:2, adjust the ingredients accordingly. And this is based on 50g moon cake shaping tool. If your egg yolk is too large, divide them into halves and wrap in two moon cakes. I am using New Moon cake decoration mold to shape my moon cakes.

Firstly all of the fillings should be prepared previously. I usually make them in the previous day. I combine lotus seed paste, mung bean paste, red bean paste, and black sesame paste this time. But it is ok if you choose only one filling.
Treat the egg yolk: If you can find fresh salted duck eggs crack the egg and then wash the egg yolk in clean water. Set aside to drain before using. If you are using packaged salted duck egg yolk, remember to sprinkle some white spirit on the surface to remove raw taste.
Measure the filling: This recipe made 14 mooncakes and 8 of them are loaded with salted egg yolk (Measure: egg yolk+paste filling=35g) and 6 of them are pure filling (30g).

Wrap the egg yolk with bean paste firstly:carefully shape into round ball and set aside. It is quite important to cover all of the ready fillings with plastic wrapper to prevent drying out.

When the crust dough is ready, use a kitchen scale to divide them into 14 balls (each 15g).Take one portion of the wrapper, press into a round wrapper (larger is better but do not break the wrapper) and then place one filling ball in center.
Push the wrapper from bottom to top little by little until the whole ball is completely wrapped.
Shape into a round ball. This step can help to make the skin as even as possible. Then slightly shape the ball into an oval so you can easily place it into the mould.
Dust your mould with flour and then shake several times to remove the extra amount of flour. Use mooncake mould to shape it.
When the assembling process is done, coat the ball with a layer of flour. Also coat your tool please. Place the ball on your board, then carefully cover with the shaping tool, press the rod and gently remove the cake from the tool.

Bake mooncakes
Preheat oven to 180 degree C (356F). Spay a very very thin layer of water on the surface of the mooncake can help to avoid cracking surfaces. But too much water will spoil the pattern on the surface. Bake for 5 minutes to firm the shape.
In a small bowl, whisked one egg yolk with 1 tablespoons of egg whites. Transfer the mooncakes out and brush a very very very thin layer of egg wash on the surface. Low the oven temperature to 170 degree C and put them back to the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. I baked around 16 minutes.

When well-baked, transfer out cooling crack to cool down completely.

Keep and Serve
When the mooncakes are out of the oven, the skin is not oily like the ones on the market. We need the last step: place in an airtight container (I am using single package as I need to ship them to my family). Wait for around 1 or 2 days for the pasty to become soft (This process is named as”回油”, meaning the process of returning the oil to the surface).After this last step, mooncakes can be kept for around 2 weeks in fridge.

ENJOY!

It’s time to apply!

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Who we are looking for?

We hope the families who we recruit will not only have love but also serve as advocates for our China Waiting Children. The families will have a chance to meet the children and spend time with them to learn about their special needs and personality characteristics. Families will be assigned/paired to our JOY children before the trip in order to learn more about our JOY kiddos.

About:

Our Journey for Orphaned Youth is an amazing experience and mission for advocates, potential adoptive families, and individuals with an open heart and open mind. Great Wall China Adoption is excited to offer this new opportunity for advocates and families to experience China first hand and to witness what life is like for children in the orphanages. We believe this knowledge will make strong voices for the children, which will create more forever families and fewer orphans. JOY is intended to serve a population of children commonly left behind. JOY targets younger children with significant needs and older children whose needs prevent them from travel. This group of children, in no less need of a family than any other child, is often over-looked on photo listings because their needs and/or age seem scary. JOY allows advocates and families to meet these children before they are adopted, see the wonder and the need in the children’s eyes, and share their stories first hand of the experience of China, its orphanages, and the children waiting.

During this 9 day trip we hope the families can record all aspects of the children through games and activities. Some of the games in which we interact with the kids can be tossing a ball, blowing bubbles, painting, eating together, and having FUN. During this quality time with your JOY children you will document your experiences and advocate for the kids by sending out their information daily via social media. We would specifically target well known, popular and successful media sites that adoptive families and potential adoptive families visit most often.

Previous Success!

In 2016, we successfully held a similar program with Dongguan Social Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province. At that time, three families were in attendance. The Dongguan orphanage specifically wanted our families to pay attention to five children. After the program two children were adopted by GWCA families, one child with severe heart disease is now with God, and another child with complex heart disease was unable to travel long distances. Dongguan was very satisfied with the outcome of our program at the time and believed the program made a difference in the kid’s lives.

The reason why the Chinese Welfare Institute wishes to organize such activities with adoption agencies is because they hope the kids who are older or severely disabled get more attention and eventually get adopted. The majority of waiting children have been treated and are in post-recovery or post-operative stages. Most of these children’s files have been prepared for a long time. However, due to the lack of resources or interest from prospective adoptive families the orphanages rarely update the kid’s files. The children’s information on China’s database ls relatively old/out dated and these kids need an advocate who will share current information about these kids who are desperately waiting for families. The JOY participants will be able to give potential adoptive families current information, present conditions/capabilities and describe the personalities and uniqueness of these children. It is our job to show the world just how special our JOY kids are.

Please fill out our Hosting Application if you are interested!

Contact Information:

morgan@childrenofallnations.com

512-323-9595 ext. 3033

Be a part of something more!

Waiting Children in China!

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The number of waiting children in China seems to grow every day. At Great Wall China Adoption, it is our priority to help as many of these children as possible find loving homes. We see adoptive families who have been changed forever by the love of these kiddos, and want to spread that experience to many more families.

China’s international adoption program has been stable and efficient for many years, and we are privileged to work with them. If you are interested in adopting from China please email a counselor at info@gwca.org, or call 512-323-9595 to speak with us today!
We are excited to hear from you!

Adoptee Cultural Exchange in Spain!

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In our years processing adoptions and running heritage tours, we have often been asked what it is like for Chinese adoptees in other areas around the world. So we created our Adoptee Cultural Exchange Program, A.C.E.

This exchange program provides Chinese adoptees a chance to explore their heritage and meet other children who have the same life experiences as they do all within the safe confines of a host family who also adopted a child from China.

All the American girls are very well integrated in their families and they get along really well with the Spanish girls. They are becoming very good friends.
Each family is doing different things in different parts of Spain: they are going to the beach, to the swimming pool, to the mountains, doing cultural visits… They really want the girls to have fun and enjoy their stay in our country.
Our Program Coordinator in Spain

This is one of the most unique cultural exchange and heritage tour opportunities available for a Chinese adoptee, and we are the only U.S. agency currently offering this opportunity.

Connecting to Cultural Heritage with Hosting

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Connecting children with their cultural heritage can be so helpful for children and your family. A great place to start is at home, and what better way than to host an exchange student!

Meet the Wynn Family!

Last year, we hosted Iris- a 17 year old student from China. We were lucky because she was able to teach us all about China and shared so much joy with us! It was especially exciting for us because our daughter and son are adopted from China! Iris was able to teach us to cook some dishes, share some Chinese traditions with us, and introduce us to the Chinese community in our city!

She was wonderful to host and we had an incredible year with her and were able to share things we loved with her too! She joined a basketball team and did very well in school. We are so thankful that Iris shared such a special relationship with our children. She was like a mentor and our daughter especially looked up to Iris. We took her trick-or-treating, on road trips to the beach, shared all of our holidays and celebrations with her and our kids loved to play with her!

Host families should offer their students a place to sleep, 3 meals a day, and support as they adjust to their new school. While exchange students are expected to have a reasonable command of English, adjusting to classes does take a little time and families should be patient and resourceful to help their students. Overall it is a very rewarding experience, and I highly recommend everyone to check it out- even if only for a few months or a semester to start off. What a fun way to bring culture into your home!

Ms. Wynn, host parent with Student Ambassador Exchange

Hosting an exchange student is a great way to connect over shared and new experiences. Students come to the US to study at a US public high school, and live with host families. These students are ambassadors in their host communities. Students are encouraged to share their country, and culture with their host family and their community. Plus, Great Wall China offers its own program called Student Ambassador Exchange!

Students are from nations all over the world and are between 14-18 years old and have a wide variety of interests. Students are selected for the Student Ambassador Exchange Program based on their academics and comprehensive English abilities.

Host Families can host for a few months, a semester or a full school year.

And there are NO application fees or direct costs for hosting! The only things host families have to provide exchange students are:

A bed in a shared room, with a child of the same gender or in their own room.
Three meals a day. (Students bring their own money to cover meals when going out)
Transportation to school and activities if a school bus is unavailable.
A supportive and caring home.

Start your hosting journey today by meeting our exchange students and filling out our FREE, NO COST application and you can bring cultural exchange home to you!

Meet the Exchange Students!!

Spread The Love

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Did you know there are over 600,000 orphans in China?
That number is staggering. Many of these children are labeled “Special Needs”. This means they likely have a health or medical diagnosis, whether it be minor or more severe. These children are the ones who are eligible for international adoption, and they are all deserving of loving homes.
We are overjoyed about helping match so many families with these children, and now we get to see them thrive in families who give them the love and support they need. We want to see more children experience this!
If you would like more information on China adoption please contact us at info@gwca.org or call 512-323-9595 to speak with a counselor.

3 New Kids On The Block!

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We have three new children who are in need of forever families!

Meet Ben! Ben is a sweet 10-year old boy who was born with very mild clubbed feet, but he has not needed any physical therapy or surgery to walk and run without assistance. He is very sociable and loves to say hello and thank you in English. He is on target developmentally and is a bright, intelligent kiddo. Ben is in regular school and is doing well. He was hosted for one month in the United States and bonded well with his family!

Meet Vivienne! Vivienne is an incredible girl from China that is 11 years old! She was born with a congenital heart defect and one clubbed foot that does not impact her mobility in any way. Vivienne is talkative, polite and loves being around other people. She is extremely intelligent and appears to be meeting all developmental milestones! Her caregivers describe her as very active and engaged, saying that “she has the prettiest smile every day.”

Meet Cody! Cody is an adorable 5 year old boy who was born with a need related to his eyes, but it does not appear to have a huge impact on his daily life. Cody’s cognitive development is on track for his age and his caretakers say that he’s very smart! He can count, read various poems, and he quickly masters an activities. Cody has been described as a gentle boy who is open minded and super adorable!

To Learn More About Any Of The Children Above, You Can Request A File Today!

Please note you may request a file of a child even if you have not begun the adoption process, so please contact us to learn more.

Resources

#WaitingChildWednesdays

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As part of our #WaitingChildWednesdays series on older child adoption, we wanted to share with you a family story. This family adopted an aging out boy from China almost three years ago.

This is a REAL story in the family’s own words (emphasis ours) that shows that adoption can be hard and take time – even after the finalization is official. But it is worth it.

On June 23, 2015, a Facebook video crossed our paths and we both felt this boy was our son. We really had never seriously considered adoption for our family, and any idea of adoption had certainly never included a 14 year old. We already had two biological children who were 9 and 13 at the time. But there was something about him, and after talking it over with each other, our children, our family and friends, they all felt it too. We called seven agencies who all told us there was no way we could complete his adoption before his 14th birthday – October 19, 2015. Our eighth call was to Great Wall, and after some lengthy discussion, they said it was highly unlikely we could complete our adoption in that short window, but if we were willing, they would help us try.

Over the next couple of months, we worked with a sense of urgency like never before, and with a lot of help from above, we flew to China on September 11, 2015, and brought our new son home to America exactly three months from the date we completed our application for adoption with GWCA. They told us we set a new record for completing an adoption in such a short period of time. We were proud, excited, and ready for all of our dreams to come true as a new family of five.

And then the real hard stuff started. We had dental and medical issues to take care of. We could barely communicate without the help of Google translate, and that wasn’t perfect and created additional challenges. We both worked full-time jobs and had busy lives and Isaac started school as an 8th grader with our other son two weeks after being in America. Isaac was overwhelmed and frustrated and mourning everything he knew and thrust into a different life on the other side of the world. For the first time, he was expected to brush his teeth twice a day, shower daily, keep the toilet seat clean, chew with his mouth closed, sit through a church service, share, follow a new set of rules and expectations, etc. All the food was new and different, he could not escape the constant stimulus of a foreign language, he felt like an alien and could not talk to anyone. We were eager to listen to him pour his heart out and connect with us and love us and share every feeling freely with us.

I remember some particularly hard times that first year. On a family vacation to a theme park in Orlando, he got upset about something and took off. Once we found him, we were all so stressed and upset we had to go back to the hotel room. The next two days of our vacation, one of us had to stay in the room and try to keep him in the room while he emotionally melted down. The other one took our other children to the theme park. Another time, he got upset and decided he was running away, and took off to the field behind our house. We could see him, so we let him stay for over an hour while we watched. When he finally came inside, he was covered with huge welts from mosquito bites. I felt horrible.

Every night when I tried to sit him down and review English words, he would belch (or worse) repeatedly, or lay his head down on the table, or anything else he could think of to frustrate me until I gave up. It often worked. We tried to limit his electronics, and he would melt down and rant in Chinese for hours in his room, and refuse to eat. We all worried about him so much and wondered if we had done the right thing for him by adopting him. I would go to great lengths to cook anything and everything, somedays, all at once, because food felt like the only way we could make him happy. We walked on eggshells and tried not to upset him. Things weren’t fair and we kept the scales tipped in his favor in an effort to keep peace in our house. When we had family and friends over, they usually got to witness the chaos firsthand. It was embarrassing and we felt like it was damaging to our relationships, and we withdrew from a lot of people in our lives. We loved him deeply, but often hated what we thought our family had forever become. We occasionally entertained the idea of disruption, but knew in our hearts that we would continue to destroy a soul that had felt the deepest sense of rejection at least twice in his life already.

That feels like a different universe to me today. Somewhere between year one and year two, it got a little easier for us. Somewhere between year two and year three, it became easy. And normal. And happy. Isaac is an amazing person. He is very smart and earned all A’s and B’s during his sophomore year of high school. He can read very well and we have no trouble communicating. He still has a strong accent and sometimes we all have to repeat ourselves, but he understands the language fully now. He’s kept a part-time job for over a year and will work hard. He loves to play video games and has his license but is still a homebody.

We know him now. We know his heart and his likes and his dislikes. We know what makes him laugh and what motivates him. He is always kind to animals and children. He is quick witted and clever and a good cook. He is a good brother and has finally built strong bonds with his brother and sister. They laugh and play together, and generally enjoy each other’s company. He loves us and loves being part of our family and he shows us that through his actions more than saying the words. Our last theme park trip was filled with joy and nothing but good memories together. I can look back on those though times now and know they were the result of a complete lack of trust in us, fear of rejection, and the stimulus of a completely different world. He is truly a great son, and while the road was nothing like I imagined, this is what I hoped for him and for us.

Older children are WORTH IT.

SIX New Kids On The Block!

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We have six new children listed on our photolisting! Please see a short bio for each below.

	Hannah is a precious 4 year old girl who was born with Marfan’s syndrome. She is very active, outgoing, and friendly. She is self-independent and loves to read! She is a fast learner and has been described as a curious and smart little girl!
	Landon is an adorable 2 year old boy who was born with a clubbed foot, which he received surgery for, and spastic hemiplegia that effects the muscles on the left side of his body. He is involved in daily rehabilitation training. Landon is an introverted little boy who loves to play with all sorts of toys!
	Charlie is an adorable 8 year old boy who was born with a language disorder, but he has made great strides in his progress. He can now express his needs, cite poems, and sing! Charlie is self-independent and has been described as a handsome, outgoing, and active boy!
	Tommy is an adorable 5 year old boy who was born with epilepsy. He is a self-independent boy that can express his needs, have simple conversations with others, and understand simple instructions. Tommy loves to watch cartoons and his favorite toys are trains!
	Megan is a precious 2 year old girl who was born with a strabismus in her left eye and a need related to her brain. Megan is more of an introverted little girl who is closest to her caregivers. They’ll put a towel over their head and Megan will pull it down and they’ll laugh loudly together!
	Isaac is an adorable little boy who just turned 4. He was born with was born with a cleft lip, palate, and an arachnoid cyst. Isaac has been described as an active and clever little boy! He is closest to his caregivers and loves to cuddle.