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I don’t believe the situation is as grim today as was reported then. We have adopted two little girls from China and are waiting for our third adoption to come through. Our first adoption was in 1999 and things were pretty poor. However, in the last 9 years, through the help and support of many western charities, coupled with the fees paid to the orphanages by the families who adopt a child from them (which are used to help the children who are remaining), the standard of living for the children in the orphanages has raised considerably.

We are currently waiting for a little girl with special needs. We have received pictures of her through a charity that supports her. From the photos we have received, she looks healthy, as do the children who are in the orphanage with her (many of whom have special needs). The charity has started a school for the children in this orphanage, and they have done so in many orphanages across China. I also read in Christianity Today recently that the Church in China is sending its people into the orphanages to care for and teach the children.

Other charities have been involved in helping to build housing for foster families attached to the orphanages, so that the orphans can live in a family situation rather than in an institutional setting.

There are charities that send western doctors into China to treat the children in orphanages for cleft issues, heart conditions and other serious conditions requiring surgeries. These doctors take their vacations to go over and take care of the children for free.

There are hundreds of charities and thousands of regular people who have the orphans of China on their heart and work very hard to do everything they can to take care of them. And, there are many Chinese people doing the same.

If anyone is interested in helping Chinese orphans or orphans around the world, feel free to privately e-mail me and I will point you in the right direction to some fine organizations.

All is not totally rosy, but things are a heck of a lot better now than it was during the height of the “dying rooms” back in the 1990’s.