From a family adopting March 8, 1999: "We received our daughter around 8:00pm at the Lakeview Hotel, 5 minutes after checking in. She had a very bad cold, as did most of the babies from that group. She was dressed in seven layers of clothing, no diaper and completely soaked. She was also very dirty and hungry. The orphanage director handed her to us herself. I don't remember her name, but she was young, well dressed and beautiful. After the pictures, the chaos, the tears and the hugs, we returned to our room and we washed her and gave her a bath and a bottle. She slept through the night and woke up the next morning with a big smile. She has been like that ever since. She is very good natured and has a good sense of humour. Bonding with her was effortless; it was apparent that she had been well cared for. The only lag seemed to be in her physical side. At almost seven months, she could not grab a rattle , sit, turn over or bring her arms in front of her. (She has since easily caught up). The next morning, the orphanage director came to our rooms to collect the clothing and to answer questions. We were told that our daughter had been in foster care. She said she could not reveal the name of her foster parents but that they lived in a village called Zhou Jia. They were either farmers or fishermen she said...our daughter's hands and face were tanned which led us to beleive she had spent some time on someone's back as they were working. She said she drank milk (she was VERY PLUMP) but was not yet eating solid foods. We were told that she was found at the gate of the orphanage. (Later, when comparing notes with other families, it seems like everyone had the same story). The following day, my husband and two other new fathers hired a cab to go to Yugan. The cab ride took about 3 hrs. Upon entering Yugan, they were met by the orphanage director. (She found out they were in town...) She took them to some touristy sites; they were given a free breakfast at a hotel and finally escorted out. They returned after they had said good-bye to try to find the orphanage but it was difficult to communicate with the taxi driver. They came back with lots of pictures and memories of their wacky cab ride. They are not sure whether of not they saw the orphanage building or not. We have a picture of what could be an administration building??? Our daughter is now 2 years old. She speaks French and English, loves to laugh and sing songs. I can't believe how blessed we are to have such a beautiful daughter. Also, it's interesting to note is that all of our daughter's immunizations were up to date, but some of the other babies' from the same group were not. Not all of our babies were in foster care."
From an adopting mom: "I am back from China with a beautiful
daughter!! Unfortunately, I was able to learn next to nothing about the
orphanage. We had anticipated visiting Yugan but due to the rains could
not. The roads were flooded and even the babies had to be transported by
boat from the orphanage to Nanchang! The one thing I learned that I had
misunderstood before is that infants are not all in foster care. My
daughter and two others in our group were at the orphanage, the other two of the
children were in foster care. They were all very healthy and well cared
for. I sure hope that in the future someone else is able to find out more
about this orphanage as I would dearly love to know more about my daughter's
early days." (CA, a. 6/98)
And another mom: "We were one of five families that received
daughters from Yu Gan in Jan. 2000. All were healthy and (of course)
beautiful. All five were in foster home and appeared to be well cared for.
Our 12.5 month old daughter, Rachel, was able to pull up, cruise, and walk long
distances when holding on to Mom's finger. She had 14 teeth, and was
interested in eating everything in sight! She loved to cuddle, kiss, and
play with other children. (LC)
A mom adopting March 2000 writes: Yue Ying Ying is from the Yugan Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi province. She was in foster care with foster "grandparents". She was in great shape physically. We adopted her at 22 months and she could walk, run and feed herself. We only noticed that she didn't know how to climb stairs, but within 3 days of exposure could climb. They said she only could say a few words, but in a local dialect so our guide could not really communicate with her either. She is adjusting well and very happy. She is learning that she can trust us and is in becoming more comfortable with physical affection. Within three months of returning she has 30 english words. (BL)
Another mom writes: "We received Marissa Rose (Yue Wei Wei) on the
17th of January 2000---in Nanchang at the Lakeview Hotel at about 8 pm. We
did not meet the director or anybody from orphanage that night but received our
little girl from one of the guides with GWCA. She had a lot of clothes on
when we received and she was not wearing a diaper. The clothes were not
that clean and we were happy to get them off her and give her a bath and new
clothes. She seemed to warm up to us right away and did very well the
first night with bottle and slept thru the night. We met with the
orphanage director a couple nights later and asked her some questions. We
found out that the Yu Gan babies from the April DTC 1999 were in foster homes
and were on cow's milk and ate different things. They all seem to have
adjusted to all the new parents and were a happy bunch. They were all
about 12-13 months and strong
and seemed healthy. Our little girl and another in this group were
neighbors. Their foster families were neighbors and we have some pictures
which show them together at times. It was great. We did hear from the
orphanage director that four of the children liked desserts! Shortly after
they were found they were put in foster homes. There were five in our
group from the Yu Gan orphanage. They were strong babies and one started
walking while we were there. They all pretty much took to the formulas and
bottles
and some mentioned that they needed bigger holes in the nipples before the
little ones took to the bottle. They love rice, noodles and cherios which
we brought with us. They also mentioned they liked fish as were they were
from was a fishing village. I think our Marissa Rose got good care in her
foster home. She is a happy little girl and always smiling and does not
cry much. The orphanage director was most helpful with our questions and
feel she tried to give us as much information as she could. She also
mentioned that our little ones were potty trained and one was showing that while
there but we did not pursue it with Marissa Rose as she was not liking us trying
it." (CD)
Please e-mail me at webmaster@gurrad.com if you have any additional information or if your child is from here and you would like to post a picture here or other contact information.