Children Waiting for a Forever Home: Won’t You Lend a Hand?

Most children are born to loving families and treasured by parents as little darlings. Some people even spend buckets of money and would do anything they can just to have a child of their own. But there are always some children not being able to receive proper care after their arrival to this world. According to Ministry of Health and Welfare, statistics indicated from 2010 to 2014, 1150 children were identified as abandoned or orphaned. CWLF has throughout this period, received 2925 consultation phone calls and emails about relinquishing children for adoption. Every day, 1.6 children are on the brink of losing their family and home.

Relinquishing one’s own child for adoption is the most heart-wrenching decision a parent could make as they are pressed by reality and all kinds of difficulties in everyday life. The top three reasons for relinquishment, as indicated by CWLF’s consultation record, are financial hardship (79.5%), no kinship support (68.8%) and child born out of wedlock (52.9%). Whether the children are relinquished or abandoned, each one of them is the most innocent victim and has life story different from children their age. Yes, sweets and toys would be nice, but what the children want is a cuddle of their own. And now, they need the general public’s help to realize their wish of finding a forever family, a home to call their own.

According to CWLF’s statistics, on average a child will need to wait for 7.8 months for a forever home; however, a child with special needs will need to wait for another 2 months. The most common kinds of special needs recorded are related with parental background, which may include substance abuse, psychological or mental illness, and inherited illness (21% of the children fit into this category). Children with these issues typically need to wait for approximately 9.9 months before they are matched with a suitable family. The second category is those children who were previously abused, neglected, returned from an adoption, or are older in age (approximately 14%). These children are oftentimes insecure and have difficulties in establishing trust with others, resulting in delayed development or regression and therefore need ongoing counseling and play therapy. On average, these children wait for 10.3 months before being matched with a suitable family. Moreover, 11.6% of children have health issues or developmental delays which require special medical care. They usually need to wait for 9.9 months for a forever home.

Since the beginning of the adoption services program, CWLF has been providing 24/7 foster care so the children can receive thorough care. CWLF allocates a large sum of funding to support the special needs children, including introducing early interventions and running training programs for foster families to equip them with better knowledge in child care. This year, the goal is to raise 15 million which will be used for the children’s daily care, medical treatment and insurance, placement, early intervention etc.

Ting-Ting is an 11 months girl who loves to smile. Born prematurely, she was kept in an incubator for the first month of her life. After she overcame this period of uncertainties, she was soon discovered to have some sort of brain disease that affects her lower limbs development and may eventually affect her intellectual development also. She now undergoes an intensive rehabilitation every week, and the pain it causes makes Ting-Ting throws crying fits all the time. Even so, the foster mother never stops from assisting Ting-Ting to correct her postures. With ongoing practice, now Ting-Ting is able to crawl and ready to embrace a new family.

Children like Ting-Ting need much more from caretakers while they wait for a family of their own. Their special needs require caretakers to devote more time and energy. The foster care team that CWLF has built provides the children a loving and secure place to be in. Jia-Chi is a caretaker with five years of experience working with CWLF. Throughout the years, she has had five different children. Currently, she is looking after Dotty who is diagnosed with global developmental delay. Jia-Chi spent two months to build a relationship with Dotty. After that, she started accompanying Dotty to early intervention sessions which lasted nine months. Initially, Dotty could not make himself understood by others and would cry and shout, but as he received more and more stimuli and training, he started to make significant progress. For caretaker Jia-Chi, even though some days were rough, she believes everything is worthwhile when she sees Dotty making progress. “I have to ensure the children under my care are healthier and prettier than they are now, so they will have better chance of finding a good home!” said Jia-Chi.

CWLF has been collaborating with companies (Fareastone, Righteousness Love Culture Cultivate Association, United Airlines) to promote the general public’s awareness around this issue. This is our third year of running the online fundraising program “Help Me Grow”. The website presents each foster child’s updates, including their life story and current life. CWLF hopes to gather 2000 donors to support these children. By donating 600 TWD each month, one can help a child to become closer to his or her dream of having a forever home. The donation will go forward to providing ongoing, professional services for the children so they will continue to receive quality care.

For more information, please visit “Help Me Grow” website: http://baby/children.org.tw

To donate please call 02-2550-5959#1 or visit our English donation page:
https://www.children.org.tw/donate/use_visa/0/eng