Group Members: Audrey Harris, Lily Primus, Harris Williams

Working Title: Rebuilding Chinese Orphanages

Website: https://orphanageserviceproject.weebly.com/

Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) is an international adoption agency that

was started twenty five years ago by husband and wife team Joshua Zhong and Lily Nie.
Throughout the years CCAI has evolved from being strictly an adoption agency to becoming a
philanthropic organization working to improve the lives of abandoned Chinese children.
China implemented a one-child policy in 1979 as a means to control population
growth. Often times within a Chinese orphanage there is a significant gender imbalance. Many
baby girls are abandoned as they are valued less in traditional families than boys are. There is a
strong cultural preference for sons, who are seen as stronger and better workers. Additionally,
females would “marry out” into their husband's family, and take care of their in laws not their
own parents. Thus, many baby girls are put in orphanages. Sex-selective abortions were
extremely relevant, female abortions making up about 70% of the approximate 7 million
abortions in China. Consequently, a large gender gap appeared for infants in China, a ratio of
about 115 males to 100 females. Although, today the one-child policy has been altered to a two-
child policy, in an effort to decrease the gender gap, the ramifications of the one child policy
have left thousands of girls orphanages.
China’s orphanages are not simply houses for children looking for new future homes, but
are more similar to prisons, and very few are able to escape. The orphanages are poorly
maintained with a factory line style of moving kids through the process. As kids grow up, they
are moved into different rooms. Infants are often sorted by their liveliness. Those who seem
more active are placed in the first two rows of cradles and those who seem passive and weak, are
moved to the back. A usual room contains up to 40 children and are maintained, on average, by
only 3-4 nannies. Children living in these orphanages suffer from a lack of basic necessities
ranging from clean clothing and hygiene products to food and adequate medical care. Children
are also shown to suffer severe emotional turmoil. Nannies are often unable to give kids enough
attention and many children emerge from orphanages suffering from anger issues, anxiety
disorders, and many other damaging psychological disorders. Often times due to a severe lack of
funding, Chinese orphanages are only able to offer the bare minimum to helpless children whose
lives lie in the hands of someone on the other side of the world.
CCAI opened its first Lily Orphan Care Center in 2001 in Hangzhou China. Since 2001
CCAI has been able to open seven other LOCCs CCAI and LOCC workers partner with local
provincial governments to renovate pre-existing run down orphanage facilities, and to build new
childcare rooms from the ground up. LOCC have a child centered philosophy on child care.
CCAI invites caretakers from all around China to attend childcare training sessions at local
LOCCs. Orphan care centers also send out training teams to many orphanages and social welfare
institutes to provide much needed lessons in basic childcare and other skills.

Product:
The final products of this service project will be a brief presentation about Chinese orphanages
and many ways in which they affect the children residing in them, as well as a significant
donation to the LOCC program. We will be fundraising through partnering with local restaurants
and businesses.
Resources and Sources:
 http://www.ccaifamily.org/
 http://www.rfa.org/english/
 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/04/in-a-chinese-orphanage/376563/
 http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/asia/china-orphanage-children/

LEAD 11-12.INV1.
Identify, describe, and frame questions about an issue, and explain how that issue is locally,
regionally, and/or globally focused.
 I can ask questions pertaining to orphanages in China, the conditions, how they’re run,
the demographic, etc. in order to address the issue.
 Answering our questions through research will help us fully understand the issue on
multiple scales, how it affects local communities in China, China as a whole, and the rest
of the world.

LEAD 11-12.INV2.
Use a variety of international and domestic sources to identify and weigh relevant evidence
that addresses a globally-focused question.
 I can provide relevant evidence about orphanages in China. This means that I can
research international and domestic sources that pertain to our project.
 I can weigh relevant evidence that addresses the support of Chinese orphanages. This
means I can determine a diverse collection of evidence that relates to our project will be
effective in helping us reach our goal.

LEAD 11-12.PERS1.
Express personal perspectives on situations, events, issues, or phenomena, and identify
influences on that perspective.
 I am able to express my personal perspective regarding orphanages in China. Therefore,
I can convey issues in orphanages and why they need to be addressed.
 I am able to identify personal bias due to my own cultural background.

LEAD 11-12.PERS2.
Explain the perspectives of other people, groups, or schools of thoughts, and identify
possible influences on those perspectives, including access to information and resources.
 I can express my personal perspective on the quality of orphanages and orphan care in
China. This means I can describe in my own words how I react to the state of orphanages
in China.
 I can identify possible influences on other people’s perspective. This means I can
describe in my own words how and why other people come to react to situation, issues, or
events relating to orphan care in China.

LEAD 11-12.PERS4.
Apply an understanding of multiple perspectives and and contexts when interpreting and
communicating information about situations, events, issues, or phenomena.
 I will be able to approach our project from multiple different perspectives. This means I
will recognize multiple perspectives in China’s orphanages in order to provide the most
effective help possible.
 I can efficiently communicate information about issues with orphaned children in China
and and how it is perceived from diverse groups of people. This means I can present the
the issue our project looks to fix in a way that will not offend the audience as well as
presenting my evidence in an appropriate manner.