Our Work in China
We have provided a home and medical care for abandoned special needs orphans.
When I first traveled to Shenyang, China, I was changed forever as I accompanied Beau and other participants to meet the special needs children in the Home of Joy Orphanage! I continue to seek to use what I learned in China in opportunities here in our country to share light and hope!
— Brenda Clifton, Supporter and Volunteer
How It All Began
The special needs orphanage supported by Global Partners in Life was started in 1996 by a woman who goes by the anglicized name of Anne. Anne was an engineer with a wonderful career. While volunteering at a municipal orphanage, she had a vision of a baby with wings flying to her and asking her to take care of it and realized she could provide more individualized care in her own home for those orphans with special needs.
Anne left her stable job, and soon began to garner respect and recognition for her growing, home-based orphanage. Hospitals started calling her directly when a child had been abandoned. Other orphanages also heard of Anne’s experience providing care for orphans with severe medical conditions, and began to send children to her. The reality is, without Anne’s willingness to open an orphanage in her 3-bedroom home, many of those she received would not have survived outside of her care. The one-child policy in China prompted the abandonment of many children with special needs; even for those who desired to keep their child, the required medical care is out of their financial reach, so many believed by abandoning their child, they actually gave him or her the best fighting chance.
The Special Needs Orphanage
The special needs orphanage we support was started in 1996, and has served scores of loving and needy children since its inception.
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With so many special needs children living in the orphanage, there is a constant and wide range of needs to be met. Global Partners In Life is grateful to our donors and partners who fund numerous operations and medical procedures including, but not limited to, heart surgery, cleft palates, clubfoot, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and corrective vision actions.
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China’s former one-child policy has led to an increase in the number of abandoned children, whose parents are afraid of governmental retributions. In addition, Chinese parents want their one and only child to be healthy, but often they can’t afford the medical treatments, so the child is abandoned. With adoption policies changing, adoptions have decreased while the number of orphans has increased, thereby straining the limited resources.
Why focus on China's orphans?
1 mil
orphans in China*
*includes institutional, kinship, group homes and foster care
98%
orphans have a disability.
400K
children die annually in China due to inadequate
medical care
4 mil
children live in extreme poverty
We continue to help with education opportunities.
$780
per year for education supplies
$1,510
per month to fund teaching staff.
