Anqing Social (Children's) Welfare Institute

Anqing is a historic riverside city in southwestern Anhui Province, about a 2-hour drive from Hefei. Once the capital of Anhui, it is known for its long history and distinctive local culture.

Anqing Orphanage Guide: Anqing Social (Children's) Welfare Institute – Yangqiao Campus has been the main children’s care facility since 2008, currently providing care for around 60 children, although the number changes over time. The campus provides individualized care, education, rehabilitation, medical services, and psychological support, with facilities including a rehabilitation center, medical clinic, and Longshan Special Education School. For an Anqing orphanage visit, Hefei is the most convenient gateway. We can arrange a private guide and driver to take you from Hefei to Anqing and accompany you throughout the visit.

Anqing History: During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770BC-221BC), it was the seat of the ancient Wan Kingdom from which the abbreviation of Anhui Province, Wan, was derived. It has been a prominent city since the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). The old city was first built in 1217 and is almost 800 hundred years old.      

Anqing Physical Features: The city has medium and low height mountains distributed across the northeast, plains and bottomland in the southeast. Hills and lakes are distributed in the central part of the city.              

Anqing Climate: It lies in the north subtropical humid climatic zone, with distinct monsoon and four seasons. Its annual average temperature ranges from approximately 58.1-68.9F. Like many other cities in South China, the weather will be greatly affected by the plum rain season in summer.  

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.