SOS orphan village continues to hemorrhage moms

Outdated regulations

The village has 15 two-story buildings, each with one family. The village supports the children until they finish their compulsory education.

Students admitted to college are eligible for continued support. Those who don’t make the cut will be enrolled in a trade school to learn how to make a living on their own.

 Unlike welfare homes which raise orphans as a group, the children’s village aims to more closely emulate the experience of a home life.

Children’s village has developed rapidly in the two decades since the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs reached a cooperative agreement with SOS Children International in 1984. There are 10 SOS children’s villages in China today.

But the mom shortage may ensure there is no future expansion.

Beijing SOS Children’s Village was designed with a capacity for 120, but it only has enough moms for 30. “There are supposed to be another 50 orphans sent here by the end of the year, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to recruit enough moms,” Jin said.

Previously, the village was open to orphans born in Beijing. Now it is also open to the surrounding provinces since most Beijing orphans are raised by their surviving relatives.

Beijing SOS Children’s Village is not the only one having problems with recruitment: at a joint meeting of all 10 SOS Children’s villages several months ago, every village head reported the same problem.

The 10 villages have filed a joint request with the Association of China’s SOS Children Villages to waive the rule as soon as possible.

“The constitution of SOS Children International is more than 60 years old, so some of its rules really don’t fit the reality of life in modern society,” said Bai Yihua, the chairman of the Association of China’s SOS International Villages.

“It is unreasonable to require moms to stay single forever. This could cause them to develop their own mental problems that would affect the orphans’ growth,” Bai said.

“This difficulty in recruiting moms is a problem shared by every village around the world,” he said.

One idea would be to expand the range of potential candidates to include 40- to 50-year-old women. Those who have already married and had children of their own may be more experienced and  capable of raising the orphans, Bai said.

SOS Children International is considering reforming its rules. The Chinese association of SOS villages hopes to present its case along with data from all 10 villages before reforms are finalized.