How can you say there are too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.
-Mother Teresa of Calcutta
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The anti-child attitude that permeates the oppressive Chinese government has led to a life of daily tragedy for huge swaths of the country. Women are not permitted to have children freely, and if they violate the country’s one-child policy, they are likely to be subjected to forced abortion, discrimination, oppression, and even death. The attitude against children has led to the twofold problem of wanting the one permitted child to be perfect (and, often, male), which causes epidemic rates of abandonment and neglect among accidental subsequent children, disabled children, female children, and all the rest.
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The problem is enormous, and it would require a government transformation to change the nation’s current situation regarding children. But several organizations are working to make a difference. One in particular, the Little Flower Projects, reaches out specifically to the country’s abandoned children. Their mission is simple:
Provide specialized care to abandoned children with medical needs. We reach out to infants and children who have been rejected and discarded—those without a voice. Whether by direct care, support, or education, we seek to give them a future.
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The organization works through various projects to save, care for, and protect China’s most vulnerable. They provide hospice care for orphans who are dying, and consider it a privilege to spend time alongside the orphans and fill their last days with joy. Little Flower Projects also provides group educational foster homes, which reach out to physically disabled orphans and allow them to obtain education and training. The hope is that, after their time in the educational foster home with a family environment, the children will be equipped to function independently as adults.
The organization provides special care to children at their infant homes, where abandoned babies who have medical complications are treated. The babies stay in infant homes until they have grown strong enough to join individual families. Through long-term care, the Little Flower Projects take in older disabled orphans and keep children who have no hope of being adopted due to their impairments. Finally, the organization works to facilitate adoptions, and helps a variety of special causes, which differ from case-to-case. They can include raising money for a much-needed surgery, or helping impoverished families with difficult needs.
The full spectrum of the Little Flower Projects’ work can be found here.
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