In a difficult environment for westerners to operate openly, Half the Sky Foundation (Berkeley, California based non-profit), has been working in China since 1998 to help provide care for China’s tens of thousands orphaned children.

• In 2003, Half the Sky hosted a national conference for China’s welfare institutions.
• In 2005, Half the Sky was invited by the China Center for Adoption Affairs to create new guidelines for the quality of care of orphaned children in China.
• By the end of 2007, Half the Sky will be operating its nurturing programs for orphaned children at 36 welfare institutions across China.

Jenny and Richard Bowen founded Half the Sky (from the Chinese saying “Women hold up half the sky”) after adopting their daughter from China in 1997. Half the Sky is not an adoption agency and by Chinese regulations operates only to assist the tens of thousands of orphaned children in China. Half the Sky cooperates with many local Chinese agencies and groups in the area, as well as staffing it’s own facilities.

According to their website, “Ninety-five percent of the healthy children living in Chinese welfare institutions are little girls. The influx of healthy infant girls into social welfare institutions began in the 1980s when China introduced strict birth control policies … When the traditional Chinese family’s preference for boys collided with well-intentioned population controls, healthy girls were abandoned in heartbreakingly large numbers. In recent years, the ‘floating population’ of migrant workers has meant an increase in the number of healthy boys, as well as girls, given up by their birth parents.”

Programs offered by Half the Sky Foundation include:

• Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Program - trains local women to work as full-time nannies.
• Little Sisters Preschool Program - local teachers are trained in curriculum designed to give young children the self-confidence, skills and love of learning that will help them succeed as they move on to primary schools.
• Big Sisters Program - provides individualized learning experiences for older children.
• Family Village Program - Children, whose medical and developmental challenges prevent them from entering government adoption programs, grow up with permanent families, living in Half the Sky-provided homes.