Find me an Orphanage

How hard is it to find an orphanage in China?

For me, almost impossible.

I am reading a novel by Karin Evans called, The Lost Daughters of China.

The author describes her journey in adopting her two daughters from China, and raising them as Americans in San Francisco. She also attempts to explain why there are so many unwanted baby girls in China. The plight of women and their daughters has to do mostly with economics and the One Child Policy. It is a brilliantly written book, and I am learning a lot about the perils of having child in China, and how what happens in the bedroom IS the government's business.

So last night, I thought I would research online to find orphanages in China, possibly one I could volunteer at during my six week Winter Break. In Evan's novel she states there are over one million orphans in China. So there must be an orphanage in my town, or one a couple hours away that would let me play with some babies, change their diapers, give them bathes, play with older kids.

No. I quickly discovered government orphanages do not allow foreigners to visit or request information. Of all the non-governmental orphanages I found, (maybe 3 or 4) they only want money. One orphanage offers volunteer work but you have to pay them $2,000 for two weeks, and you don't even get to play with the kids...you do construction work. I found one place, a foster home for orphans with medical problems that accepted volunteers, but when I emailed them, the email came back saying the inbox was full and could not accept anymore emails.

my reasoning is that it's easier to pay Chinese nannies a low wage to take care of orphans, instead of opening up the orphanage to foreigners who will only stay for a couple of weeks and require English language skills, maybe meals and a place to stay.


another reason is that the real orphanages are so poor they don't have Internet access, or someone responding to emails in English from people who want to volunteer.

Chinese people are trained to repress bad events or emotions, and none of my students will talk with me about orphans, abortion, or even divorce. One student got mad at me for asking the class if everyone had two parents at home. So now I have to be extra careful about what I ask.

I just want to help. I wouldn't even mind paying some money in order to hold and play with some orphans. There were so many welcoming orphanages in India, but China is a different country--discreet, shameful of it's dark secrets, and suspicious of foreigners.

It just seems so silly to me that I find out about China through books written by American authors, and not first hand through the Chinese themselves. My search for orphanages seems a difficult if not impossible task here.