Field Visit Report - PingXiang 2005

We rode the bus from NanChang to PingXiang which was non-stop and a 3.5 hour trip. The road seems to be fairly new and was a four lane highway with a median in the center (two lanes on each side so traffic each direction was separated) which made for a much calmer ride than in the past.

First we met with the new director, Ms. Zhong who gave us an overview of the Social Welfare Institute. The “city” of Pingxiang was two districts and four counties. The SWI is in Anyuan district so is under the jurisdiction of the Anyuan district Civil Affairs and is supported only by them even though it serves the whole area (is the only orphanage in the “city” of Pingxiang). The director has tried to get them raised to the city level instead of the district level (better funding would be provided) but so far has been unsuccessful. In addition to the orphanage the director is also in charge of the nursing home at the site of the old orphanage, many of these residents are paid for by their families.

The government only pays twelve salaries which includes four staff for children’s care, two staff for the elderly and six administrative staff. Retired staff’s pensions also come out of the SWI budget. The orphanage has hired four “contract” (temporary) staff themselves since the staff paid for by the government is not enough.

There are about 70 children under the care of the SWI. Forty are in foster care which includes special needs children such as those with cleft lips/palates and orthopedic deformities. Two of the foster children go to community schools. There are about 30 children living at the orphanage, seven go to outside schools and ten are in a special education class. There are also two or three deaf boys who go to a boarding school and their education is paid for by the government. They thought Amity would only sponsor foster care for those with disabilities so only had five children in this category for us to sponsor and have not applied for more. However they now have some more children with cleft lips/palates that they will apply for Amity foster sponsorships for.


	Foster Care Visits: We met DN with her foster mom at their home (they walked out to meet us) which is near the middle school she attends. She has cerebral palsy but does well at school. “All her teachers like her and she gets good comments on her school reports.” Her foster mom found her when she was a few days old and cared for her until she was 5 or 6 years old.

	But because of her disability the mom was unable to continue caring for her and had to take her to the orphanage to live but went to visit her on the weekends. When the foster mom retired from her job she came and took DN back to live with her but the orphanage could only afford to pay her a small stipend and now she has been enrolled in our foster sponsorship program for the past year or so. Wu An An (Amity director) is wondering if DN might need some surgery on her legs which are spastic and scissoring. HYP - This family also fosters another baby from the orphanage. HYP was taking a nap when we got there, so was a bit shy after just being woken up. Her hair had a bunch of braids (the foster mom’s daughter works as a hair dresser) and she is adorable. Apparently she was to have been adopted internationally in the past but after one day in Nanchang the single mom (with her mother) decided they could not handle her special need of cleft lip/palate and she was returned to the orphanage. We visited HDP – one of our sponsored foster children, who has cerebral palsy. HQP – We recently paid for her cleft lip surgery. Currently her foster care is paid for by the orphanage but I think they may apply for her to be under our sponsorship. She only weighed four pounds when she was first left at the orphanage. Ms. Zhong, the orphanage director, grew up in this neighborhood so she still has family friends there and it’s easy for her to know who will be good foster families. We also visited AJY. She is currently in orphanage sponsored foster care but may apply for Amity sponsorship. She was found in early May and is about three months old and was just placed in foster care a few days ago. She has a cleft lip (and possibly also palate) and some type of hernia in the lower abdomen or bulging in the genital area. This foster family has previously fostered healthy babies but is unhappy with this recent placement. The baby cries frequently which makes the hernia protrude more and they’re not sure if they can handle her special needs. The orphanage may need to find a new home for her. We met HHP – Not yet sponsored by us but probably will apply for Amity sponsorship. She has had a cleft lip repair. We saw another nearby orphanage-sponsored foster child with an ear deformity. She was hospitalized with severe jaundice. The Pingxiang schoolchildren that we sponsor were not at the orphanage during the day when we visited, because they were in school. So they were brought to our hotel that evening and we met them in the lobby. They are: DL is in first grade (more than once according to her reply to Amity staff). DW is studying to be a secretary. DJ is studying computers at “ Electric Technical School ”. DQ, FZW, and LQ are pursuing general studies. We also met the tutor that we sponsor to help these children, according to my “Granny list” her name would be Chen Qiling.



	Report of the Field Visit to PingXiang Orphanage May 2005 by Dr. Peggy Gurrad


		Upstairs is the special education classroom that the orphanage has set up for these mentally handicapped children. The orphanage has hired a teacher for them since there is not an outside special education class available for them and they aren’t able to attend a regular school. We visited the area of the orphanage where our Hugging Grannies are working with the special needs children, many with mental handicaps. Granny Zhang Xiao Ping takes special responsibility for a toddler who has undergone four different surgeries because she was born with no anus. Granny Peng Xin Mei takes special responsibility for five of the children with mental retardation.