Experiences of Families Adopting from Jingdezhen
2006-01 -We have daughters who are from the orphanage, twin sisters who were separated in foster care, but are now doing very well together in CA. They are almost 3 years old. I recognize the Chinese gentleman on the left in the photo �Director Want (Wan) of the Children�s Division�� as the man who we met in Nanchang when we first met our daughters. We were told he was the orphanage director in 2004. (Pictures)
Since we would like to do a similar trip to yours in the next few years, this information is very helpful. We would certainly like to know more if possible. We would also like to know how to do our part to help. (DM)
From a mom adopting in March 1996: "Our daughter arrived with a man who was identified as the orphanage director and with a woman who seemed to be more than a nanny but I'm not sure of her title. They were VERY nice. The man did the "leg" work although the lady was never far away. She told our guide she wanted to stay out of our daughter's sight so she would not cry when she saw her. Since our daughter was close to two years old she may have been attached to her. Our daughter is very personable and seemed to be a favorite of these people. She was clean, had many clothes on, but could not walk or even pull herself up for about a month after we got home. She was NOT small!! Chubby cheeks!! But other than that she seemed well cared for. They told us there were only fifty babies at that orphanage and that not many are adopted from there because it is so far from Nanchang." (SK)
And from a mom adopting November 1997: "My daughter was very small, just 17 pounds at age 24 months, when I received her. She was very healthy and was clean (no lice or scabies, etc). She is very bright, has a wonderful sense of humor, smiles, and says "hi" to everyone. I could not be happier. Even though she can't walk yet, I know she must have gotten some mental and social stimulation from someone who cared. She was not in foster care, but rather in the orphanage for two years. She has had all her blood work done and the doctor is very pleased with her. We just have to concentrate on putting some weight on and getting her in the Early Intervention program so we can start building her muscles. She has made lots of progress since I got her in November and I expect she will be walking by Christmas, although she can't crawl or roll over yet. Our trip went very smoothly and it really was like a vacation. We enjoyed all the shopping and sightseeing and I would love to turn around and do it all over again. (DJ) And in August 1998 this mom had this news: I just received pictures of the Jingdezhen orphanage. I was so shocked to receive them! I had asked for them in China and several times since but never thought they would send them. It's a very nice, large and somewhat newer looking complex. It makes me feel a little bit better about solving the puzzle of her first two years. There is also a senior citizen complex. I always felt that Kaitie got some special attention in the orphanage because she is so affectionate and always interacts with people so well. I have heard that sometimes they match the older people up with the orphans and I believe this was probably the case with Kaitie.
I just returned yesterday from adopting my beautiful daughter from Jingdezhen. Though we were not able to go to the orphanage I was able to find more information. We had a Chinese adoptive couple who found out a lot of information for us from the orphanage's doctor. They were told that the orphanage has about 100 children and 50 senior citizens. The senior citizens come and play with the children. There are 50 paid staff and a number of volunteers. The orphanage was in bad shape a few years ago, but has been able to make vast improvements and add a new wing with our donations. We were told our money would help repair flood damage to the bottom floor of the orphanage. They have decided that children born the same year will have the same last name. All the children born in 1997 have the surname Wu. The child born in 1996 had the surname Jing. The children were in wonderful shape! Only one out of ten appeared to be malnourished. They were clean and had only heat rash from floods combined with the heat. The girls ranging from 8 months to 26 months all have bonded with their families. It has been incredible how well they all have done. (SH, 8/98)
Just a note to let you know that I have returned from Nanchang with a beautiful baby girl from the Jingdezhen orphanage. She has just turned 9 months old. She was 7 1/2 months when I first held her. She was diagnosed with special needs of malnutrition and rickets and rashes. So far the rash has proved to be true but no signs of malnutrition. She was in fact quite plump. She had no hair the first day but after six days of US formula she developed a light fuzz. Our MD has given her a clean bill of health and she is catching up rapidly with rolling over and fine motor skills although she still doesn't want to eat anything by spoon. The babies (two) were brought to us at the hotel in Nanchang and we did meet the nurse and director and also an assistant responsible for submitting the babies' paperwork to the China Center for Adoption. He also helped us the following day with the passport paperwork. We were very impressed with the nurse who seemed very competent and very loving to our babies. Both babies did have explosive diarrhea the first week. They seemed to do better on soy formula although we were told that they were fed milk formula and rice cereal. I suspect that there diet was actually boiled rice (congee) especially after Sophie's hair started growing after only a few days on the soy formula. The nurse did give us a one page report of what she knew about the babies (written in Chinese) Our daughter was abandoned several days after birth and weighed only 4.5 lbs. The MD who examined her before placing her in the orphanage thought she was premature and the nurse says that she took a lot of care to keep her healthy. She is a very calm baby who rarely cries and smiles and laughs easily. The other baby was abandoned at three months old and spent only one month in the orphanage before being placed with a foster family. She was nine months old in October. My feeling was that she was not feed well. She is very healthy but was so thin. All she did when we were in China is eat large volumes of rice cereal and formula every two hours even throughout the night. Now she is a little "butterball" with lots of thick black hair. She had been diagnosed also with malnutrition and rickets and a "bent spine" None of these diagnoses has proved to be true either. We had obtained copies of the pictures from the orphanage that were on the website and had showed to pictures to the nurse. She says that the orphanage was damaged in the summer floods of the Yangtze. At least one building was destroyed. The babies in the orphanage were evacuated in the middle of the night either to a higher floor or out of the building. The nurse told us the babies stay on the second floor and pointed to the 2nd floor windows on the shot of what looks like the entrance of the orphanage. The building that was destroyed in towards the back of the orphanage. We did leave a disposable camera with the director so perhaps we will get some post flood pictures of the orphanage. (RB, a. 10/98)
We adopted our daughter from Jingdezhen on 1/27/00. She was ten months old and in good health when we received her. The orphanage director said that the care in the orphanage had gotten much better since a new doctor had come to the orphanage. They told me that he had been in private practice, but when his only son was killed, he decided to dedicate his life to orphans. There were two other babies from Jingdezhen adopted in our group. All three of them were in good health with only minimal delays. One baby was actually CHUBBY!!! Our daughter was developmentally on target and very healthy, our pediatrician was ecstatic. (BF)
June
2004 - A
Family Visits Jingdezhen SWI (with photos).
A
July 2002 Visit to Jingdezhen and the Orphanage (with photos).
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