{Anna}
Starfish Foster Home was founded in 2005 by Amanda de Lange to help babies with special health needs in China. These babies usually have spina bifida, cleft lip/palate, and heart and lung problems. Starfish has taken care of around 140 children, arranged more than 150 surgeries and have had 57 international adoptions. They usually have around 50 babies at the Foster Home at a time.
Starfish gets their children from local orphanages and they have saved many lives. The FAQ that I get is: Most of them are girls, right? Actually since these children have health needs there is an equal amount of girls and boys. It is considered bad luck to have a kid with any sort of problem in China. Even if it is just a visible birthmark.
When Starfish gets new babies they go into the isolation room where they are cared for more carefully until Amanda decides that they can go with the other babies. There are 25 nannies to take care of these kids and they switch off day and night shifts. When the babies are strong enough, Amanda arranges for their necessary surgeries. After their surgery the goal becomes getting them adopted into loving families.
When I went to Starfish in April 2011 I came back wanting to do so much more. I started my etsy shop and I planned on raising $3000 for Starfish before my next birthday in February. I exceeded that amount and I went to Starfish in February for a month. I was at Starfish for my birthday and it was amazing. I got to really experience a lot and there were definitely the ups and downs. We had 5 babies adopted and one passed away. I saw some really skinny babies start to chub up. And seeing the babies that were tiny last year was the best part. My next trip is scheduled for Summer 2013.
Here are some of their cuties:
{Angel}
{Kay Louise}
{Judy}
{David}
{Taylor}
{Bryant}
{Chris}
{Bella}
