DaTong Social Welfare Institute

DaTong City Social Welfare Institute：

Address: Fuyuan Street,Yu He Dong Road,Datong City

located :The orphanage is located in Datong Datong City, about 4 hours drive from Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province.

General Information:Datong is a city of Shanxi Province in the PRC. Its estimated population is 2,500,000 (2003 Census) .
The city was founded during the Han dynasty, circa 200 BC. . Given its location, between two branches of the Great Wall, Datong was a key position to stop the invasions of the barbarians from the north. However, the role of defense of the city was not very effective and in 386 of these peoples, Tuoba, took the city and founded the Northern Wei Dynasty. The city was the capital of this dynasty until 495. The role of frontier town gave him back to Datong Chinguis Jan, who won in 1211.
The Wei Dynasty built around the city some caves intended for Buddhist worship. The 53 caves of Yungang Shiku were built between 460 and 525 and containing more than 50,000 sculptures that have turned the city into a tourist attraction. They were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.
Datong Orphanage was founded in 1949 and in 1997 moved to the building.
It is home to about 700 children, many of whom are older children or children with special needs.
In December 2007 a rehabilitation center designed for children with special needs was completed.
Children do not have access to education in a regular school, and attending classes in the same orphanage.
This orphanage collaborated Great Wall to build them a library.
Love without Boundaries has assisted in this orphanage.
Half The Sky has 4 programs help in this orphanage since July 2010.
If you want to visit this SWI, you can arrive in Datong by flight or train directly, and then we can arrange our guide and driver to pick you up and drive to this SWI.  

Top-rated hotels: Garden Hotel, Yungang Meigao Hotel, Yungang Jianguo Hotel.

Top-rated attractions:Yungang Grottoes, Hengshan Hanging Temple , Huayan Temple of Datong, Nine Dragon Wall.

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.