HuaiNan Children's Welfare Institute

HuaiNan SWI: The Huainan orphanage gives home to 100 children and has about 30 employees. About 30 children are in foster care and the rest live in the orphanage. For the adoptive parents who visit the orphanage rarely leaves making them photos of the interior of the orphanage. In 2008 began a program to find foster families for children in the orphanage, both those who have special needs and those who do not. To meet the expenses involved this, each child has two sponsors. In addition there is also a nutrition program for children.

To visit Huainan social welfare institute, you can take flight to arrive in Hefei city. Then we will pick up you and drive you to Huainan. The driving time will be 1.5 hours to Huainan

Huainan Location: Located in the north-central region of Anhui Province, middle reaches of the Huaihe River, it is bounded on the east by Chuzhou City and shares boundary with the capital city of the province, Hefei, in the south.

Huainan History: Before it was governed by a kingdom under the central government of Western Zhou Dynasty (206BC-24AD), this area was dwelled by several Chinese ancient minorities. In Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), seigneurs were sent to administrate the region, and established Jiujiang Shire instead later on.

Physical Features: The Huaihe River flows through the city. The land north of the river is fluvial plain, while the landform is bend area near the river banks, and hilly land in further south area.

Huainan Climate: It enjoys a subtropical monsoon climate with relatively moderate weather and abundant sunshine. Its average temperature is slightly lower than any other cities in Anhui. The rainfall is mainly concentrates on summer. During June to July, there will be about 20 days' plum rain period.

When to Go: spring and autumn

Special Local Products: bean curd of Bagong Mountain

Attractions: Bagong Mountain: Not only a famous tourist zone in Huainan but also a national geo-park, the mountain consists of some forty peaks. It is praised to be one of the birthplaces of the Chu-Han Culture, still leaving many historical sites, including ancient battlefield, private garden, old temple, pagoda and nunnery.

Shangyao National Forest Park: Forest makes up the main landscape of the park, but it also has a great deal of historical and religious sites, such as the ancient temple built in Jin and Ming dynasties, cliffside inscriptions, caves, and stone bridge. It is an attraction that the nature and the buildings set off each other harmoniously.

Other Scenic Spots: Jiaogang Lake, Maoxian Dong (a Taoism immortal cave), Longhu Park

Depending on the size of the SWI and how often visitors return, a visit could can be a highly anticipated event by the staff, or a routine, minor inconvenience to the day to day running of the institution.

You will want to discuss this aspect of reality with your child and prepare her or him for what it might be like, based on what you know. It is good to talk to your child about what to expect and then what to do if things turn out differently than you expect. It is important to develop an attitude of flexibility and focus on enjoying the experience rather than to get set on things going a certain way, since things don’t always go exactly as planned on any trip or daily life experience. A small gift is always appropriate for the effort expended by the director and or staff to accommodate the visiting family.

Since it may be several years after an adoption, it’s not unusual that the orphanage moved to a new place. Remember it’s normal, natural, time will not stand still, just as your children changed dramatically from she/he was a baby when just there.

If you are interested in visit both of the orphanages, we are happy to facilitate it, you can follow the previous footprint to recall your excitement when you look at your children at first time.

We usually arrange visiting the finding site for families if have the Notarial Certificate of the finding place. The finding site usually is at the front of hospital/orphanage/government agencies, etc. Please note that there places may be changed also.

Since visiting the finding site is the most emotional part of the trip, it’s a personal decision for each family and only you can make the decision if you want to accomplish it.

We always arrange the meeting with the previous caregiver/ foster family. If you have the information of the previous caregiver, we will try our best to find her. Please do remember that it’ll be some years after your adoption, the caregiver may be moved away or be retired. If the caregiver is still working in the orphanage, the director will happy to facilitate the connection.

Also please note that the caregiver may take care of more than one hundred babies in the orphanage, so that she may not remember your child well.

If your family is interested or inclined to invite the orphanage director to lunch, it is proper to invite others in the meeting as well. This would usually be one or two of the directors' assistants. If you want to invite the caregiver or nanny, then you should extend that invitation through the director to show the proper respect that the position merits. Your guide will handle this for you, but inviting the staff through the director follows proper etiquette for the situation. Some of the orphanages offer the free lunch while the others request about USD90-USD150 for the extra charge. You may ask our trip consultant before you travel.

When visiting an orphanage, it is appropriate to prepare some gifts for the director/staff and the children. You can invite the director, the staff or the caregiver to have lunch together or prepare fruit basket for them, for their effort expended to accommodate the visiting family.

As for the gifts to kids, you can prepare some snacks, candy, books, school backpacks, toys and so on. Usually, you can buy them when arrival at the orphanage place, the guide can escort you.

If you want to donate something more valuable and not sure what is needed for the orphanage, you can first learn it from the director and then purchase them from the local market. Some SWI will issue a donation certificate to you but not every SWI will do this.