ABSTRACT
In the 1990s, a new model of non-governmental orphan welfare began to emerge in mostly urban centres across China. Private foster homes, typically faith-based and often foreign-funded, began providing off-site, long-term care for children from state orphanages. Based on a longitudinal study, this chapter introduces the development of this sector, including the range of care models offered, their importation of first-world resources and expertise, and the social and political constraints faced by the many Christians and foreigners working in the field. China’s foster homes, like the private orphanages introduced in Chapter Three, generally faced ambiguity regarding the legality and permissibility of their work, which was taking place in a shifting political context. Most existed in a legal grey zone, neither permitted nor forbidden, and subject mainly to informal, local oversight and hidden rules and norms, rather than formal regulation. The negotiated, extralegal regulation of the sector resulted in various challenges and ambiguities, as well as uncoordinated and ad hoc growth. The response of Christian foster homes to this uncertainty was twofold: creative, pragmatic workarounds and strategising, and prayerful submission to providence.
