About The China Care Program at Half the Sky
A baby arrives at an orphanage somewhere in China. The child is premature - too small and weak to survive.
Or she has a life-threatening birth defect. She needs specialized treatment that cannot be provided in any local hospital. After a careful screening by a local physician, the baby is transported to receive the help she needs through the China Care Program at Half the Sky in Beijing.
The China Care Home is an interim residential care facility for medically fragile orphaned infants. It includes a 50-bed 24-hour pre/post operation Special Care Nursery and a 25-bed Family Housing Unit for long-term post-op recuperative care.
Children are brought to the China Care Home from sending orphanages around the country. They will be prepared to receive surgery at the home or will go directly to the hospital and arrive at the home after surgery. Trained special care staff provide professional and nurturing care for the children while they are in-hospital and while they are in residence in the Special Care Nursery.
The Nursery offers round-the-clock care in a nurturing environment until the baby is strong enough to either return to his or her sending orphanage or to further recuperate and receive ongoing medical treatments while resident in the Family Housing Unit.
The Family Housing Unit has 8 family homes, each with a trained and loving foster mother who will nurture 1-3 recovering babies as if they were her own. The mother will ensure that all medical needs are met, as well as the equally pressing need of these vulnerable infants, to be cherished and valued.
When a child’s stay at TCCP is complete, the child will return to the sending orphanage with a government-approved handbook of specific instructions for his or her care, which will be prepared by TCCP staff. In addition to full care information, the sending orphanage will be advised by HTS' government partners whether to assist the child in a domestic placement, submit dossier for international adoption, or, if special needs preclude adoption of any sort, to place the child in a permanent foster home through HTS' Family Village Program.