Meili's first home

Here is a description of the orphanage that Meili lived in for her first year. It's written by a woman named Nancy who also has a child adopted from the Wenzhou Children's Welfare Institute. How great to hear such positive things about Meili's first home!

"Hi everyone! I just wanted to share with you a little bit about my visit to Wenzhou CWI. As I have told the parents who I sent pictures to, this place is absolutely wonderful :-) I know Epin (another adoptive parent) has told us that before, but there is nothing quite like seeing it for yourself!

Vice Director WeiWei is absolutely wonderful. She was so welcoming and quickly asked me if Jiaqing (her son) was with me, and how was he doing. He is small for his age, and one of the first questions she asked is "Has he grown?" She really cares about the kids, and it was obvious from the tour she gave us that she knows the children by name, cares about them, and does all she can to give them the best care.

The toddler and baby rooms were so much fun to visit! They were bright cheerful places, with music playing, and when we left the toddler room, some of the little ones followed us around to continue playing with us! It was so cute, and I was impressed that the aunties in the other rooms also knew their names. The CWI has such a family feel to it - I cannot even express how I felt when I was there. The aunties would smile and nod at me, often saying, "Aaahhh, Jiaqing's MaMa!" They all seemed to know him - not sure if this is a good thing or not :-) Actually, one auntie told me in her English that she had him in her class 3 years ago. I asked her if he was naughty or good, and she laughed and said, "Naughty!" Haha, I could have guessed that :-)

The facility has so many extra services available that I have not seen before - a kindergarten school, with a piano, a study room for the older children to do homework, a clinic with 2 doctors on staff, a physical therapy room with equipment. They bring in tutors in the evening to help the kids with their homework. WeiWei is constantly looking for ways to improve the care at the orphanage.

One other thing - there were two older girls visiting for a few days, around 19 years old - who had received job skill training while living there and now worked in a factory nearby. They had a few days off from work and they had "come home" for a visit. I really thought this said a lot about how the feeling of family is created in this CWI. I came away understanding so much more about my son, and how it was that he came to us such a happy and confident little boy, after living in this place for the last 6 years."