Our Children
The children who come to Meng En are those who have come to the end of the road in terms of being cared for and loved. They are children who are no longer wanted by the overburdened governmental orphanages that are unable to adequately care for them. The children have various types of special needs, both physical and developmental, and many of them are from minority backgrounds. Our children come from over 300 different governmental orphanages located throughout all of China. These government run institutions are more than eager to send us their children. Our children are from ages 2 – 14. The younger ones are with us on average 2 years before they are placed in adoptive families. Children who are 6 years old and older have a difficult time being placed in families. These older children will stay with us until they reach 14, at which point they no longer become adoptable according to China’s regulations governing adoptions. At age 14 children within the orphanage system are sent off to government run vocational schools where they are taught a trade. Labor intensive training is provided so that these older children will learn a skill while earning the room and board they receive in compensation. The overburdened, financially strapped institutions have the option of retaining these older children, but given their circumstances, the orphanages readily choose to turn the children over to the government run vocational programs. Our older children, some who have been with us for 10 or more years, remain under our care and support, going to local middle and high schools, as well as enrolling in our own vocational school, which was established in 2008.
Our children need lots of love. Our live in staff who care for our children are all widowers who pour out their hearts and lives upon our children. With no home of their own, our house mothers truly relate to the children as if they were their own. The joy and happiness that is immediately recognizable in the faces of our children, is due to the fact that these unwanted and abandoned children have found a genuine home in which for the first time in their lives they are able to experience genuine love and concern.
