Photo(s) of the week - 10/16/2009

Quinn and Cambree from our Anhui Cleft Healing Home both were scheduled for surgery this week. We couldn't decide on just one photo this week as BOTH of these pre-op photos in the hospital were just too cute for words!

Help Us Choose the Top Ten Photos

Each year, LWB shares our Top Ten photos of the year from our work with children in China. This year, we would like YOU to help us decide. Please visit the following link to choose your favorite photo of all. We know it isn't an easy decision, which is why we needed some extra opinions!

Thanks for your input!

Orphan Tourism

I was forwarded a very interesting article last week about “orphan vacations.” You can read the article here:

In the first section, the author discusses that this type of trip could encourage orphanages to purposely keep the children in bad conditions to encourage donations. I have had firsthand experience with this in one private orphanage (not an official government facility). The conditions were terrible, with crowded rooms and broken cribs, and no heat or warm clothing. We were moved to tears when we first visited, and of course our hearts wanted to give in every way possible. However, thankfully we took the time to do our research on the facility, and we discovered that multiple groups had donated large sums of money, while nothing ever improved. More research revealed that the person in charge of the orphanage lived in a brand new building in very nice conditions. I believe in this case the children were being used for donations, and thankfully the Chinese government eventually shut the home down.

I do think there is a big difference between going on an “orphan vacation,” which implies a recreational component for the adult, versus volunteering to go overseas to truly serve children in need. We have sent many teams into orphanages to help with physical therapy, education, and medical care. But I honestly had no idea the term “orphan vacation” even existed. A quick Google search just proved otherwise.

Have you heard of this new type of vacation? What are your thoughts on this topic?

Amy

Photo of the Week - October 9, 2009

We recently had several graduates from our Henan Cleft Healing home. One of them was sweet David-Michael, a true charmer. Before he left to meet his new foster parents, the aunties snapped the following photo. Doesn't he look cute sitting in his Bumbo seat looking like he is ready to strum a guitar? We think he wanted to serenade the lovely ladies who took such excellent care of him in the cleft home!

We certainly will miss you in the healing home, David-Michael....but we know we will get to follow your continued progress in foster care as well.

Desperation

I read this powerful blog here on abandoning a child who needs life-saving health care that they can’t afford. It really made me about the anguish a family must go through when they feel that abandoning a child might save their life.

We have seen a number of parents in China on the verge of this desperation. We’ve also seen children who have obviously had some medical treatment as they are abandoned with surgical scars or needle marks from previous IVs. Obviously the parents tried to give the child they medical care they needed, but we have to wonder if they ran out of funds and so felt the desperation of having to leave them in the hopes they would get care. This is the reason behind our Unity Fund, our medical treatment fund that helps poor, rural families who can’t afford medical treatment. We want families to stay together, and we love when we can “prevent an orphan” by providing the medical care needed so that the family doesn’t have to consider such a drastic decision.

Can you imagine yourself being so desperate to save your child’s life that you would have to abandon them? Imagine how many families around the world are faced with this dilemma and the thoughts that must lead up to their decision to leave their child. What more can be done around the world to help support these families?

Karen Maunu

Changing the Lives of Orphans in China

Disruption

Last week, I saw this article about a woman who was on the Today Show, who adopted a child and later terminated the adoption here. The woman and her husband had five biological children and then adopted a baby boy. However, because the mother felt that she couldn’t bond with him like she could her biological child…..after 18 months they disrupted.

The subtitle on this article was “Of human bondage” and there are five pages of editorial comments on both sides of this story.

I have struggled with the idea of disruption for many years. When a child is born into your family, whether the child has “issues” or not, that child is yours. You don’t have an option to hand that child back. I know that this is a very complex subject, however, and with my motto being “Compassion before judgment” I try very hard to understand disruption when it happens in adoption. In our own extended family, there was a disruption of a child that I knew well….so I have seen this with my own eyes.

What are your thoughts on disruption? Is there ever a time that it is acceptable? In the end, was it better to have a family that will truly cherish this child or would it have been better for this family to fully commit to the child and work on bonding?

Karen Maunu

Changing the Lives of Orphans in China

Photo of the Week - Happy Birthday Maria

Little Maria just celebrated her birthday at our Heartbridge Pediatric Unit in Beijing. One of our past Heartbridge Coordinators sent her a birthday gift. Don't you just love birthdays? Guess what else Maria will be getting this year - a family!! Happy Birthday Maria!