Half the Sky Foundation

Half the Sky Foundation

The official Half the Sky logo shows a young girl holding onto the red thread of fate.
Founded 1998
Founder Jenny Bowen
Type Non-governmental organization
Focus Orphans
Location
  • Beijing, China
Area served
 China
Method Care & education
Revenue
 US$ 10 million (2012)[1]
Employees
 1400
Website

Half the Sky Foundation (HTS) Traditional Chinese: 半邊天基金會; Simplified Chinese: 半边天基金会) is an international NGO that is working to help China re-imagine its approach to child welfare. The idea for the organization was planted in founder Jenny Bowen's head after she and her husband Richard read a 1996 Human Rights Watch report entitled "Death by Default: The Policy of Fatal Neglect in China's State-Run Orphanages." [2]

Background

Created in 1998 by a small group of adoptive parents, Half the Sky's mission is to provide model programs and caregiver training designed to offer loving, family-like care to children of all ages and abilities. Half the Sky's goal is to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future. Since its founding, Half the Sky has worked together with government and private sector partners to ensure that every child knows her life matters to someone. As of 2013, Half the Sky's work has impacted nearly 100,000 young lives. 2005 Half the Sky got into Guangdong's province. A family that already had two children wanted to adopt a third. The third children that they wanted to adopt but couldn't was in the Guangdong's province. The little girl's history helped Half the Sky get into the Guangdong's province.

Programs

A caregiver spends one-on-one time with one of the children in Half the Sky's programs

The Foundation's core programs address the needs of orphaned children from birth through adolescence through an innovative and comprehensive methodology designed to prevent or reverse the ill effects of institutionalization and provide medical care and nurturing for infants and toddlers.

• An infant nurture program offering stimulation and individual attention to enhance healthy development.[3]

• A preschool program offering an innovative child-centered curriculum to prepare children to enter community schools at a level with their peers.[4]

• A youth services program providing preparation for independent living through confidence-building mentorships, vocational training, and university sponsorships.[5]

• A family village program providing permanent loving families for children whose developmental and physical challenges make adoption unlikely.[6]

• A medical care home offering medical treatment and pre/post operative nurturing care for babies and toddlers with life-threatening conditions.[7]

Transforming the Social Welfare Sector

The Rainbow Program

Launched in June 2011 at China’s Great Hall of the People, the Rainbow Program is a 5-year private/public/NGO partnership to deliver the combined Half the Sky and government caregiver training curriculum to every child welfare worker in China through a blend of initiatives including direct training, e-learning, and a nationwide online learning community.

An infant in one of Half the Sky's programs is fed during meal time.

A Million Rainbows

Half the Sky has also launched a second initiative: A Million Rainbows, named in honor of 1 million orphaned and abandoned children. A Million Rainbows places a Child Development Expert (CDE) in each of China’s provinces by 2015. Based at the Model Children’s Center and Training base (usually the provincial capital), the CDEs reach out to child welfare workers, offering workshops, in-service training, and mentoring.

Disaster Relief

During the terrible 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, Half the Sky provided relief to orphaned and displaced children on a massive scale. With assistance from thousands of supporters around the world, Half the Sky set up giant tents inside relocation camps that gave displaced children a safe place to play and learn and receive trauma counseling as they struggled to recover from all they had lost. The ‘Big Tops’ continued operating preschools and community centers with trained teachers and counselors until May, 2010, when they were no longer needed. That same year during the Spring Festival Storms, Half the Sky provided relief goods (coal, food, infant formula, medicines, clothing and blankets) for children living in 98 welfare institutions across southern China.

In recognition of Half the Sky’s work for institutionalized children and for disaster relief, in 2008, Half the Sky became one of only 16 nationally registered international NGOs in China.

ChunHui Bo’Ai Children’s Foundation

In late 2012, Half the Sky’s sister organization, ChunHui Bo’Ai was registered in Beijing. An entirely Chinese foundation, with its own board of directors and charter, ChunHui enables Chinese citizens, corporations, foundations and local offices of foreign companies to invest in the future of the country’s most vulnerable young citizens.

Half the Sky Children’s Centers

Half the Sky runs programs in the following provinces:[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Half the Sky Foundation". halfthesky.org. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  2. ↑ Bowen, Jenny (2014). Wish You Happy Forever: What China's Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains. HarperOne. p. 3. ISBN 0062192000.
  3. ↑ "The Infant Nurture Program". halfthesky.org. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Preschool Program". halfthesky.org. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "The Youth Services Program". halfthesky.org. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Family Village Program". halfthesky.org. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Medical Care". halfthesky.org. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "53 Children's Centers". www.halfthesky.org. Retrieved 14 March 2014.

External links and references