LuAn Children's Welfare Institute
Postal Code: 237008 Telephone No: 0564-3269703, 05643320511
Day 1:
Our guide and driver will pick up you when you arrive in HeFei. Then we will drive you to the hotel. You will stay in the hotel to have a rest.
Day 2:
Our guide will pick up you in the morning. Then we will drive you to LuAn City (about 2 hours). After we arrive in LuAn SWI, we will start our visiting: meet the children and director of the orphanage, have a brief understanding about the condition of the orphanage, check the file of your child. We will have a lunch with the staff in the orphange. After that, we will visit the finding site of your child, meet the foster family if possible. Then we will drive back to Hefei.
Day 3:
Today we will take you to enjoy the Hefei city sightseeing. We will visit Xiaoyaojin Park, Sanhe Old Town.
Day 4:
Our guide and driver will take you to the airport or train station. You will depart Hefei today.
Prior to your orphanage visit application submission, please make sure you have the following documents ready:
A copy of each visitor's passports
A copy of the adoption certificate or the notarized adoption documents
An orphanage visit application letter
We all know that it is important to return to China. Apart from visiting the orphanage, children may focus more on traveling itself. Therefore, if adoptive families want to explore more tourist cities in China, please feel free to tell us. And we will customize a heritage tour of lifetime for you.
LuAn SWI: There are about 170 children , but only 50 live in the orphanage , the rest of the children live in foster care .A few years ago a new orphanage was built. To visit this welfare institute, you can take flight to Hefei first. Then we can drive you to Luan and the driving time will be 1.5 hours about 74km. Or if you like, you also can take the bullet train to Luan and it will take 40 mins.
LuAn Location: It is commonly known as Wanxi for its location in the western part of Anhui Province. It neighbors Hefei, the capital city of the province in the east and is bordered by Hubei and Henan provinces in the south and the west.
Lu'an History: The name Lu'an originated during the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) when the Emperor Wu set up the Lu'an State in this area. It was first established as a prefecture during the Yuan Dynasty.
Physical Features: It is located at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains. The city is higher in the southwest with mountainous, hilly and plains regions as its main landforms. In the southwest area, the average altitude is above 400 meters (1,312 feet), while eastern and northern parts are plains areas and the main farming areas.
Climatic Features: Situated in the transition area between the subtropical zone and the warm temperate zone, the city is characterized by moderate weather with sufficient rainfall and sunlight. Its annual average temperature is around 15℃ (59℉), and the plum rain season usually occurs during June to July.
When to Go: Spring and autumn, especially May and October
Special Local Products: Wanxi green tea, Dajiujia pastry, lacquer, whitebait
Lu'an Attractions: Tiantang Zhai (Stocked Village of Paradise) is said to be the last virgin forest in East China. It is a national forest park and a national nature reserve as well. Tiantang Ding is the highest peak in the scenic area and also the highest peak of the Dabie Mountains. Waterfalls are the highlights of Tiantang Zhai. All in all, there are more than one hundred waterfalls. The Plunging Waterfall and Dragon Pool (Feipu Longtan) is the central attraction of the scenic area.
Other Scenic Spots: Bao'en Temple, Ancient City Wall of Shouyang County
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.
With years of experience working with children in orphanages all over China, Lead to China is uniquely qualified to offer a special homeland experience for you. You will:
- Visit the orphanage, foster family and finding site
- Learn about birth country culture
- Get the first hand price from local agency