Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute
Children's Welfare Institute (CWI) is an orphanage located in Shanghai, China. It is the city's oldest and largest specialized state run orphanage and has been used by the central government as a model for orphanages throughout the country. It was used as a showcase orphanage for China. History. Shanghai CWI was formerly the New Public Child Care Hall, established in 1911. The municipal government of Shanghai took charge of the New Public Child Care Hall in January 1956, and renamed it the Shanghai Child Care Institute. In July 1964, it was renamed the  Shanghai Child Welfare Institute as a branch of the Shanghai Social Welfare Center. Structure and care. Acceptance. Children who are placed in these institutions have the following criteria: orphans below the age of fourteen, without relatives or friends available to provide care, infants who have been abandoned, and children below the age of thirteen whose parents are Shanghai citizens but are legally prevented from being able to care for their children and who are without relatives and friends. Discharge. Able-bodied children are employed after age sixteen, disabled children are transferred to another welfare institute after the age of fourteen . Abandoned children or orphans can be either sent for adoption or reunited with their birth families. Criticism of abuse. Many acts of brutality by child care workers and other staff occurred. Infant and child fatality for the orphanage is high. Abuses were recorded by Human Rights Watch. The exposing of the abuse in international news media led China to go into damage control mode.