We found this video through the Yahoo group for families adopting from the Xi'an CWI. It's from an overseas volunteer program called i-to-i

We continue to be amazed by the amount of information we have been able to get about Shen and the Children's Welfare Institute where he lives. It's very reassuring to know that the CWI is open to visiting families. Evangline's family, who took photos for us on March 14th posted some thoughts about their visit which I have distilled a bit of here...

“All of your children are well loved and cared for. It was a party in there when we brought the news of those who are being adopted! The ayis celebrated each child's new family; literally, they would run at my list to see whom I had and would jump for joy with the names on the list! It was unbelievable. Our rep from our adoption agency said he has never experienced anything like that before! He asked if I knew you all personally and I said in a way, yes!”

The main building houses 350 children. When the children are ready, they move from the first floor to the third floor where they have a daily preschool class. The 2nd floor is for children who have more severe special needs. All the floors were well kept and smelled clean. They have another building on the campus which houses older children who go to school, although some also live in the main building. There are some families from the community who take children home for 2 weeks at a time; they are called assistant foster homes. College students from the local university come periodically with boxes of snacks and candies and to play with the children. A family who recently visited the CWI to adopt their daughter met a young English woman on the first floor named Natalie. She was volunteering in the CWI for a month. Her sister was adopted from China and she wanted to experience what life was like for her in the CWI. After visiting the CWI this family wrote, “it was a wonderful experience and we are very lucky to have our children raised in such a nice place!”


And Now, The Video!