Founded in September 1949, Institue of Social Welfare Datong has been assuming the nursing of the abandoned children and the unprivileged people in Datong city. It has the largest adoption scale in Shanxi Provinve and was titled as the First Rank Institute of Social Welfare in Shanxi Province, with the vice-department system organizational system. The institute covers an area of 42000 square meters and the service area is 21000 square meters. It is divided into eight organs and old people’s apartment. The eight organs is information and reception department, supply department, dinning department, children’s department, family foster department, nursing department, medical treatment department and education department. The foster family management center was put into the management system of the institute. This system includes one organization and two managements. The foster pattern is combination of foster in families and nursing together in the institute.

The principle of the institute is “concerning about the destiny for our country and servicing the society”, and the ethics of the profession is “Not being your families but doing more than the families”. There are 8300 orphans and the old people totally. The institute has made great efforts for keeping human rights and the balance of society. As the birthplace of family foster, our institute formed management system for nursing the orphans, which is ensured by the welfare institute, supported by the society, and expand to 300 families at the center of “the foster mother village”. It makes the orphans return to the families and society. The model of nursing in Datong is popularized in the institute of China by Ministry of Civil Affairs and the culture about foster mother turns into a characteristic in the Loess Plateau.

The institute relocated in 1997, and it has made all kinds of resources together and consummated the basic facilities many times, which improved the living quality of the people fostered. On Dec12, 2007 the children’s rehabilitation center was finished, so our institute becomes the first cooperative unit that finished the “Blue Sky Plan” in China. It indicates our work focus had been change from single nursing mode to professional nursing and rehabilitation mode. The new rehabilitation center covers an area of 5637.68 square meters and it has the function of children’s nursing, medical treatment, rehabilitation and training. It has realistic significance for improving disabled children’s welfare. Through professional rehabilitation training, more than 85% children get better and many late development children have been adopted by foreign families.

Protecting the orphan and the disabled people’s rights, we published “Protective Measures for the Abandoned Babies and Children” which is the first local governmental regulations to keep the orphans and the disabled, cooperated with the concerned units. The enrolment rate of school-age children kept at 100%. The orphan Guo Dangye is the first master from the welfare organizations. At recent years, we expand the cooperation with foreign countries and we have co-operation relationship with more than ten charity organizations such as the UNICEF, China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, China Center of Adoption Affairs, Great Wall Adoption China. Our institute is the first institution which had ISO9001 certification among the public institution in Shanxi Province. We construct informationalized Trinity management, including love website, the intranet, closed-circuit monitoring system, which make all the work procedural, international standardized and informationalized.

Our institute was conferred 40 title of honor, such as the National Dedication Award for Protecting the Women and Children’s Right, China Advanced Group of Building Conduct among the Primary-Level Unit of Civil Affairs, Advanced Group for Developing Work’s Morality, National Model Group of Nursing the Old People, Shanxi Top10 Group for Developing Work’s Morality, Shanxi Advanced Group among Public Institution of Civil Affairs, China Advanced Group of Building Conduct among the Primary-Level of Civil Affairs System, National Model Group of Publicity and Investigation among Civil Affairs System. It is a banner of Ministry of Civil Affairs on the work protecting right of the disabled and the old people, and has a worldwide reputation for celebrity and influence.