United Foundation for Children’s Health
Among my greatest joys of living in Beijing has been the opportunity to volunteer for a terrific organization: United Foundation for Children’s Health. UFCH improves healthcare access for orphans and impoverished children in China. The love and resilience of the kids, along with the devotion of the caregivers, doctors, and UFCH team, are truly inspiring.
Below is an excerpt from the website:
In China today there are an estimated 820,000 orphans. Many of these children are abandoned at birth once their parents discover they suffer from a congenital defect. Although many of these defects are treatable, often the lack of information and/or high medical costs result in abandonment. These children will be sent to live in orphanages that do not receive funds to cover the cost of these needed surgeries.
The average orphanage receives roughly $30 a month per child to cover food, shelter, clothing, caregivers’ salary and medical costs. Life-saving surgeries just cannot be afforded. According to the China adoption guidelines, only children who have received their needed surgeries may be put up for adoption. Most of these children will never have the opportunity for the medical care they so desperately need and will have no hope of finding a family.
UFCH is an organization of caring people committed to doing our very best to improve access to healthcare for these children. After being in this field for nine years, we can definitively say that receiving the needed medical care not only saves that child’s life, but also gives her a real chance at a future.
If you'd like to learn more, visit www.unitedfoundation.org
