Alice Evans, Holt Managing Editor of Publications
Nanchang, China—If you ask Yan Meng who she loves most, she will tell you: “my daddy.” He is the one who believed she could be taught. He is the one who homeschools her. He is the one who handcrafted a set of crutches and bought her a little stationary bicycle so she could exercise her legs.
When we visited her a few days ago in the apartment she shares with her foster family, we saw a happy little girl who would have had a very different life if not for the foster care system set up by Holt International in cooperation with the Nanchang Social Welfare Institute (NSWI).
In the orphanage, staff simply didn’t have much time to give Yan Meng the special care she needed among the hundreds of others who also needed help. Considered unadoptable because of her cerebral palsy, Yan Meng would have lived out her life in the orphanage, never knowing the love of a parent, if not for a foster care program developed by Holt and NSWI.
When Yan Meng was 3 years old, she was placed with experienced foster parents trained by Holt. Now age 11, she was supported by Holt sponsors for a number of years. Holt has since expanded its foster care program to smaller villages outside Nanchang.
Yan Meng is unable to attend school with other children her age not because she isn’t bright enough, says Jian Chen, the director of Holt International’s China Program—but because access is simply unavailable. While China is working hard to develop more and better treatment for its many children with special needs, often the funds are hard to come by, and change comes slowly. But China has shown a great willingness to work with nonprofit agencies such as Holt, says Jian.
Wearing a handknit pink sweater and a little pearl necklace, Yan Meng sang a folk song for us the day we visited. Her face glowed with the security of a well-loved child as she sang her pure, sweet melody: “I don’t need a big place. I want to have a home.”A warm bowl of food was waiting on the table for Yan Meng. Her father helped her to the door as we said our goodbyes. The devotion was unmistakable. It was clear to us Yan Meng had found her home.
