Children are the greatest gift to a family. They are innocent, lively, smart and adorable…..they bring hope and happiness. But what happens when children arrive without limbs, no words and even without a smile when they come to a family? What if the family struggles to provide basic necessities? Will their arrival take hope away from the family? This young mother, Li Xuelin, 33, has a son with cerebral palsy. She quit her job to take care of her son full time and her new job is the hardest she has ever had. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

Her son’s daily rehabilitation programme is exhausting. Li’s clothes are drenched with sweat every time. She must help her son to bend his joints, which brings the little boy pain and tears. Her son’s anguish makes Li feel pain but she still keeps giving her son the rehab. She hopes her persistence will help her son recover. However, Li is not sure about the effect of her efforts because she is not a professional therapist. “My heart will calm down only when I fall asleep. But I feel bad every morning when I wake up” said Li. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

Most of the time, Li stays at home to be with her son. She is actually afraid to go out because she fears the scornful looks people cast toward her and her son. What she fears most is that those looks will hurt her son’s feelings. “Some time ago, someone told me to abandon the boy when they saw my difficult situation. But, as a mother, how can I abandon my own son?” Li asked. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

In this way, Li piggy-backs her son around throughout the year. He has grown up physically and mentally this way. He likes to see how the other little kids move freely and he wishes he could be like them one day. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

Sometimes, the he looks at his mother as if he wants to say something to her. This communication is only understandable between a mother and her child. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

Although their living condition is not very good, Li’s son is lucky because she didn’t abandon him. In reality many families have no choice but to abandon their children due to the huge economic stress and lack of access to special services for children with disabilities. At Lanzhou Children’s Welfare Institution, there are many such children. "More than 90 percent of the children in our orphanage have been abandoned due to birth abnormalities such as heart defects, cleft lip, cerebral palsy, autism, spinal bifida, seizure disorders and others disabilities," said Bai Luzhou, the Communist Party Secretary of Lanzhou Child Welfare Institute. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

To children with disabilities the CWI is a window through which they can see the world, where they can also get food, clothing and rehabilitation, but they have no capacity to find what they need most - a home. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

To give the children with disabilities a “home”, the Ministry of Civil Affairs is working with CWIs to encourage home foster care, which requires more and more families to open their doors to provide care in a normal family setting. In addition, MCA and UNICEF are jointly piloting community daycare centers for children with disabilities to deliver rehabilitation services, psychological support and foster guidance to children with disabilities and their families. Through these services, many families can find a way to cope with the enormous stress of raising their special children. This model is aimed at helping more and more families to choose not to abandon their children. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

The nine-year-old girl in the picture named Ke Xin has cerebral palsy, a disease that has weakened her legs and caused them to bend inward. She also has learning difficulties. At the age of three, she was abandoned by her parents and sent to Child Welfare Institute. But since 3 years ago, she had been living with a faster family at 52-year-old Shen Haimin’s home. "I never had a birthday celebration until I came to this family," she said timidly. Being with a family provides her with a comfort that institutes can rarely provide. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

“For over a year, I have been teaching her how to read and write the 10 Arabic numbers. but she only managed to learn the number “1”. I really don’t know how to deal with it and I think only a professional teacher can manage it.” Said Shen Haimin. But the community Daycare Center provides solutions for foster mothers like Shen. “We hope to help parents and care-givers of children with disabilities to draw up lessons and development plans for their children when the new community-based day care center model scaled up. This will extend urgently needed services for children in family care so they can access good services for their children with disabilities," said Wang Daming, UNICEF China Child Protection Specialist. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu

Following her foster mother, the girl’s eyes glittered with hope. Photo Credit: UNICEF/China/2010/Jerry Liu