Children's Hope International

Happy Fourth of July!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Happy Fourth of July weekend and many congratulations to new American citizens! We would love to share your red, white and blue family photos from your holiday. To submit, email your pictures to Communications@ChildrensHope.net.

Registration Begins Today for Joint Council Adoption Webinars

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Joint Council has gathered some of the most renowned adoption experts to present adoption related topics in a webinar education series. Registration starts TODAY for prospective adoptive families, adoptive families, and adoptees.

When & Where
Webinars will occur on the first Tuesday and the first Thursday of each month at 7 PM EST and participants will gain access through submitting a nominal fee of $10 per webinar. Joint Council is excited and privileged to offer this unique opportunity to hear directly from adoption experts and to pose questions to these experienced professionals. For detailed information, including the webinar schedule click here.

Register Today!
Adoptive Parent Webinars registration begins today and will continue throughout 2009. To register now, click here!

2009 Adoptive Family Webinars Schedule

Tuesday, July 2nd
Eastern European Orphanages
presented by Todd Ochs

Thursday, July 7th
Developing Cultural Competence in Adopted Children
presented by Patricia Irwin Johnston

Tuesday, August 4th
TBA

Thursday, August 6th
Journey to Me
presented by Heather Forbes

Tuesday, September 1st
Medical Special Needs Children
presented by Todd Ochs

Thursday, September 3rd
Understanding and Managing Loss in Adoption
presented by Dr. David Brodzinsky

Children's Hope is a proud member of Joint Council.

Congratulations to Three Ethiopia Families!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:33:00 +0000

The Ethiopia Program is happy to announce that Children's Hope has placed a sibling set on our Waiting Children list last week and today we were honored to give two referrals to two families, a sibling set of a 3-month-old boy and 4-year-old girl, and an infant boy. The families are thrilled!

Children's Hope Spring E-news, Available Online Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:38:00 +0000

In this spring edition of the Children’s Hope E-news:

Choosing to Love - Adopting a child of toddler age or beyond takes creative parenting and lots of love. Experienced parents, Todd and Gretchen adopted their adorable six-year-old daughter Selah from Ethiopia in January of this year. For Gretchen, their bonding is about choices.

A Vision of Their Future: Adopting a Child with Visual Impairment - A mother to three children with visual impairment, adoptive parent Velleta Scott is an expert in training in ophthalmic disorders and parenting the once unknown. When Velleta adopted her first child, she had questions. Now she has answers.

Read these stories and program updates from each of Children's Hope's countries by clicking here.

Have something to share with fellow Children's Hope families for next month's e-news? Email communications@childrenshope.net with your recent photos and story ideas. Thank you for sharing!

Interview with Andrea Napa: Red in the Flower Bed (Children's Adoption Author)

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Andrea Napa is the author of the new adoption-themed children's book, Red in the Flower Bed. Andrea is the mother of an adopted Vietnamese daughter named Leah. She is a registered dietitian at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Red in the Flower Bed is for recommended for readers ages 6-8. This interview was conducted over email in June 2009. Thank you for sharing, Andrea!

1. When and why did you begin writing Red in the Flower Bed?

When my daughter was 4 months old we brought her home from Vietnam. She understood from an early age that she was adopted, and sometimes would cry that she missed her birth mother. She would also ask questions that we didn't have the answer to, as we were not given any info. as to who her birth parents were or why she was given up. Her saddness and my inability to answer her questions was inspiration for writing this story. I started writing it when she was about 3 or 4, and from time to time I would work on it. The story just wouldn't leave me. Then just when she turned 5 years old she was diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma, a rare form of childhood bone cancer. (After major surgery and 8 months of chemotherapy she has now been in remission for 2 years). The concept of the seed's journey took on even more significance, as it seemed that she had already journeyed very far (both literally and figuratively) for a little girl. She was taken from her birth place half way around the world as an infant and then fought cancer a few years later. Furthermore, I couldn't help wondering if she had "landed" in the right place, as we live only 20 minutes away from the best children's hospital in the country, if not the world. I also happened to work there. It seemed more than coincidence that she ended up with us.

2. In Red in the Flower Bed, the poppy seed flower is beautiful but does not look like the other flowers in the family garden. Although it is not mentioned in the text directly, this story is an illustration of interracial adoption. How old is your daughter now and how does she react when you read your book to her?

I deliberately did not use the word adoption in the story so that the reader can interpret the book in their own way at their own pace according to their age level. My daughter is now 7 1/2 years old. She loves the idea that I wrote a book and asked me to read it to her second grade class and is hoping that I will end up on TV! Her favorite page is the last page with the rainbow. I think she interprets this to mean that she is wanted and needed in our family, even though she does not look like us and is not a birth child like most of her friends. She also seems to be comforted by the mother poppy being sad, as it helps her feel that she wasn't just thrown away by her birth mother. Also, I made the seed turn into a red poppy flower like its birth flower, since when my daughter asks what her birth mom looks like I can say with some confidence "she looks like you", which she loves to hear. She is proud of her Vietnamese background and always answers that she is from Vietnam whenever someone asks where she is from (even if they just mean what state). I hope that she will never feel ashamed of looking different from her family or classmates. In this story the seed retains its identity no matter where it lands since its heritage can't be ignored or denied. Note that the garden flowers accepted the seed for who she was even before they knew what kind of flower she would be. The seed blossomed into her full potential because she was given the care and love she needed.

3. What are some good questions / statements an adopting parent might add to this story to further relate to their child?

Questions to prompt the child to think about the story could include: Why do you think this story is called Red in the Flower Bed? Even though the poppy did not look like the other flowers in the garden, was she still part of its family? Who did she look like? What did the seed need to grow in the garden? Do all flowers need this? How was the garden changed by the poppy flower?

4. Can you explain the choices made in the illustration technique?

My main goal was to attract the attention of young children with colorful, eye-pleasing pictures. In children's books it's important for the pictures to bring the words to life. I was inspired by the art techniques of Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert, two of my favorite children's book illustrators. One adult reader commented that the collage style using different prints makes that point that "we are all one and can come together to form a single family".

5. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I think that it's important to accept your child unconditionally for who they are, and to acknowledge your child's place of birth and heritage. It will always be a part of them. It is also important to respect your child's desire to know their background. It is their right to know. Allow them to talk about it and ask questions, even if you don't know the answer. Be honest.

From Our Ethiopia Families - One Year with Mari

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:26:00 +0000

As a single mom, what does the first year of life as a family look like? In January 2008, Jill had the opportunity to discover the answer firsthand with Mari, born in Ethiopia.

“Mari and I met on January 2nd, 2008 - a great start to the new year," says Jill. It was a year of firsts together. Month by month, she documented her experience on video and shares it with you.

View it here, Jill's Expedition to Ethiopia

***
Program News: To today's Ethiopia referral family, congratulations on your 7-week-old female twin referral and the conclusion of your wait!

The Children's Hope Ethiopia Program received a total of 23 child referrals in May to match with families. Some of these children were placed on our Waiting Children’s website and several have found their forever families. Yet there are a few remaining children who desperately need a home as well. Please visit www.CHIFamily.net to view the waiting children. Congratulations to those matched!

Resources:
Learn more about CHI's Ethiopia Adoption Program

"And Then There Were Four...": a Colombia Adoption Story

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Parents Beth and Charles traveled to Colombia to adopt a brother and sister in May 2008, creating a family of four siblings. Their story is one of a couple's love for children, a stranger's heart and compassion, and four unique kids all aware of sibling love.

"Our community has completely embraced our mulitcultural family," says Beth. "From the beginning our family and friends from our community have offered such support and love that all we can do is thank God for allowing us to be used to promote adoption and His love."

The Hollis Family shared their story with their local paper. Read more about their family's creation by clicking here.

Children’s Day

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:56:00 +0000

From Guest Blogger, Kathleen Carscadden

Children’s Day – what day ISN’T Children’s Day? That was my first thought when reading about this “lesser” holiday. But the more I thought about it, the more I truly have come to appreciate this day.

International Children’s Day is celebrated in many countries and usually, but not always, on June 1. The reason that the first day of June was chosen to celebrate children is unclear but the story I like the most is that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the International Children’s Day conference in Geneva.

I suppose since my daughter is Chinese the story of the date being set, including Chinese orphans, touches my heart.

Traditionally (in China) children do attend school but there are no classes that day. Instead they take time to honor students with notable achievements and participate in parent-child activities and games. It is a festive, child centered day. Other countries have other traditions but the common thread is a child centered day of fun and parental bonding time.

Now, I don’t think we are going to get our schools to suspend classes for a day but we can celebrate Children’s Day all the same. My daughter beams with pride when we have lunch with her at school, and showing us her work in the classroom is equally delightful. Maybe you could arrange to bring your child his/her favorite meal for lunch on Monday. Take cookies to the classroom to share with all the children (do this at the end of the school day as to not cause a big disruption) or plan a special after school activity. We will be having lunch with Miss Jess and taking her bowling after school. She typically has homework on school days, but I have arranged for Monday’s homework to be a day late. These are small things for sure, but are all special to Jessica. What is special to your child? Could you work it in on Monday?

If your school has already recessed for summer, all the better – a picnic in the park with your child’s favorite foods – ok in our case that would mean a picnic of marshmallows and bacon – but how great would your child feel when presented with ONLY their favorites?

Maybe it’s too late to do much this year – but that’s what is great about this “lesser” holiday, not much is required to make your child feel like a star for the day and strengthen your relationship.

And as always if you’d like to see what Jessica did for Children’s Day feel free to visit our family blog at www.freewebs.com/jessieshome

The Child Behind The Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:53:00 +0000

From Guest Blogger, Kathleen Carscadden

We all understand that Chinese adoptions are moving along at – well – a snail’s pace. The long wait time has spurred an interest in China’s Waiting Children/Special Needs program. This is GREAT news for those children who need homes now.

Unlike traditional referrals from China, with the Waiting Children program prospective adoptive parents get to see a picture and a little information as to the child's needs before ever applying to see the file. Wow, that's great isn’t it? You get to see and oftentimes fall in love with “your” child very early in the process. If you have spent any time observing the Waiting Children process you will notice a trend…the pretty kids find homes first. The children that are considered “cute”, no matter how great their special need is, tend to have multiple families ask to review their files or, as is the case with Multiple Agency lists, those files are locked immediately. But what about those that don’t have the cute picture?

Take a look at this picture. This little one was number 20717 on the March 2007 Waiting Child list. The special needs were a repaired cleft lip/cleft palate and the fact that this child was considered “old” by adoption standards at nearly 4 ½.

Is this child a girl or a boy? We are used to seeing boys dressed in pink and “girly” clothes because in an orphanage you wear what they have. But this child? Nothing pink or girly at all.

The March 2007 list was chock full of adorable pictures of little girls and boys. Some of those cute pictures had dozens of people ask to review their files. The way it worked back then was a lottery system – you submitted an application for a child and an applicant was randomly picked to review the file, the pictures were updated with the number of people who had applied to review their file. The phone calls were made and the internet was abuzz with news about who was picked.

Back to #20717. The number of people who had applied to review the file? Zero. Why? The special need was relatively minor. Well, as it turns out that number, zero, was a mistake. One family had applied for this child. Mine. My husband saw something in those eyes, a spark, a hope, a smile that wasn’t on her face.

#20717 is my very own Miss Jessica HuaLiang. You can’t tell by the photo that she is in fact a she. What you can’t tell by the photo is that she has the bubbliest personality; she has a wickedly funny sense of humor. You can’t tell that she is amazingly smart; she has only been home a year and a half and speaks nearly perfect English. She is loving and affectionate. She has her father wrapped around her little finger. She is healthy and well bonded. What you can’t see in that first mug shot is the amazingly delightful little girl she has blossomed into.

Next time you are reviewing the Waiting Children/Special Needs list I want to encourage you to look past the pictures and into your heart, to see the bigger picture. Are you truly only open to a girl? Maybe your daughter is a SON. Maybe your infant is a toddler, or a 4-year-old…maybe he or she is 9? Maybe older.

Look past the picture and see instead the possibility…

Pictured: Six-year-old Jessica loves her hair long. Here, she stands in front of the scroll given to her by her Chinese foster family.

Resources:
CHI's China Waiting Child Program

Introducing CHI Guest Bloggers and our First, Kathleen Carscadden

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:27:00 +0000

Welcome to Children's Hope International's Guest Bloggers! This is a new family feature to the Children's Hope blog. Beyond sharing a one-time story, CHI Guest Bloggers will be returning to write on varied topics - from cultural events, timely news, and best of all, their personal experience.

We will be introducing several CHI Guest Bloggers in the coming weeks. Help welcome these writers by leaving a comment on their articles. Thank you! If you would like to suggest a topic for their blog posts, email Communications@ChildrensHope.net.

Introducing Kathleen

Kathleen Carscadden is an adoptive mother. She's also an advocate for Special Needs adoption.

She and her husband Bob adopted Jessica from CHI's China Waiting Child Program in October 2007. Welcome Kathleen!

More Ethiopia Referrals Make Families' Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Dear Families,

The referrals keep coming! Today we are pleased to have referred a 4-year-old little girl, a 7-week-old baby boy and one of the sibling sets that were viewble on the Ethiopia Waiting Children’s website. The sisters are 4 and 7 years old. The families waited 6 ½ months, 10 months and 6 weeks, respectively to be matched. Congratulations to all of the families, and the children.

Blessings,

The Ethiopia Team

From Our Ethiopia Families

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:02:00 +0000

The Carley Family is home with their son! View pictures from their return home on their May 6th entry of their personal blog, Love is Spoken Here. We'll be sharing more of this family's experience in the upcoming Children's Hope E-news. Thank you for sharing Carleys! Welcome home!

The Frick family also wanted to share how they are doing. View their blog, "Got Injera?" Do you see a family resemblance? They have been home close to 16 months with their daughter!

Colombia Program Update Includes Several Referrals!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:27:00 +0000

The Children's Hope Colombia Team is excited to announce that the Colombia program has given four referrals this week: two siblings, a boy, 2 1/2, and a girl, 5 1/2; and 2 baby boys, both around 1-year-old! All three families should be able to travel next month.

In addition, families have accepted their referrals this week for a sibling group of 4: ages 11 and under, and a young girl, age 7.

ALSO our Colombia Team was able to meet a beautiful 16-month-old from Colombia and her elated parents at the St. Louis airport this morning!

Traveling: In additional Colombia Program news, a family is returning to the US tomorrow after completing the adoption of siblings, 11-year-old sister and 8-year-old brother. A Colombia Program family leaves tomorrow for a 1-year-old boy and we have one family in country for a 10-year-old girl.

Congratulations to all of these families as they transition!

Welcome Referrals for Ethiopia Families

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:13:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce that today we received 4 referrals for the Ethiopia Program. We received 2 infant females, 2 and 4 months old, and 2 infant males, 3 and 6 months old. The families that received the infant girls waited 11 ½ and 12 months and the families that received the infant boys waited 9 ½ and 10 months from their adoption paperwork submission. We also received several older sibling groups, now Waiting Children (see www.chifamily.net for details). Congratulations to all the families that received referrals today!

Nicky Losse
Vietnam Program Director/Ethiopia Adoption Consultant

CNN Captures China's Earthquake Anniversary from Melody's Home

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:38:00 +0000

From the blog of Melody Zhang, CHI Associate Director in Beijing:

"CNN interviewed me today, on China's Earthquake Anniversary. On the weekends, my foster children, survivors of the earthquake, visit with me. It is their story - Ren Qiang and Ren Yan's - CNN wished to tell."

Please find the article here.

The video is below. (Works best with Internet Explorer.)

Happy Mother's Day from Children's Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:24:00 +0000

From Application to Completion, the Ethiopia Adoption Process - Happy Birthday, Ashton!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Mike and Jo McGregor adopted Ashton in June 2008 from Children's Hope International's Ethiopia Program. On Ashton's second birthday, the proud parents created a 10 minute video to celebrate Ashton's becoming a part of the McGregor family and all the joy he has already given them.

From application to adoption and to each month of their lives as a family, this video captures the McGregors' Ethiopia adoption. On their blog and in their own words, Mike and Jo give this introduction:

"It's been a whirlwind of 2 years that I wouldn't mind repeating over and over and over and over again. To say we feel blessed would be a drastic understatement as honored, humbled, and truly inspired by life is more like it. Ashton, we love you more than choo-choos and horsies and cookies combined. You're the smiles, the hugs, the tears, and the eyes we've always dreamed would grow our family."

Click this link to visit the family's blog and view their video. Thank you, McGregors, for sharing!

Want to share your story? Email photos, links or your own words to Jennifer.Newcomb@ChildrensHope.net.

New China Waiting Children Will Be Added Throughout the Day to CHIFamily.net

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Overnight, the CCAA uploaded photos and information for a large set of waiting children with special needs. Throughout the day, May 4th, the Children's Hope China Team will be adding these children to our www.CHIFamily.net site.

Many of these children have minor special needs. However, no families' requests on our current list match these children. We would love to find these kids a home. Please log in and, if it is in your heart to do so, pray over these children.

If you are interested in adopting a special needs child and are not currently a Children's Hope family, consider applying today to view these children. CHIFamily.net is password protected for application approved families. Thank you!

* Update, 5/11/09

As children become available for review on www.CHIFamily.net, I will be posting notifications to the Children's Hope yahoo groups. I hope this helps keep families informed and up-to-date on the frequency of additions to our online photolistings.

To join a CHI Yahoo group(s), please send an email with the following information to Ann Tollefson, our CHI Yahoo moderator, at met9995@swbell.net:

1. Your full names(s)
2. The email address by which you wish to receive Yahoo group emails
3. The country from which you are adopting
4. Where you are in the adoption process

Ann will verify that you are a CHI approved family and then email you a Yahoo invitation to join the CHI Yahoo group(s) you request. Please do not hesitate to email Ann if you have any problems or questions.

Thank you!

Jennifer Newcomb, CHI Communications

Help the Expanded Federal Adoption Tax Credit Become Permanent

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:22:00 +0000

As many adopting families have heard from Adoptive Families magazine and Rainbowkids.com, the federal Adoption Tax Credit that so many families depend on will revert to its original level of $5,000 in December 2010, if its sunset is unopposed.

Important legislature has already been introduced to make permanent the current $10,000+ tax credit for adoptive families. The bill presently has 79 sponsors and is in House Committee. With your help this bill can gain the momentum it needs to maintain the federal financial support adopting families count on to adopt both domestically and internationally.

Urge both your state senator and representatives to support "The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009," to make the tax credit permanent.

In 2005, a bill with the same intentions – to make permanent the expansion of the federal Adoption Tax Credit as introduced in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 – went on to gain 74 representative sponsors, but later stalled in the Senate, failing with only 22 senatorial sponsors.

Bipartisan support in the Senate will be essential for this 2009 legislation to become law.

How to Alert Your Congresspersons to Support This Legislation

Consider these steps provided by Adoptive Families magazine*:

1) Find your congresspersons contact information, online:

Senator phone and email: www.senate.gov
Representative phone and email: www.house.gov

2) Log on to http://thomas.loc.gov to determine whether your congresspersons are already co-sponsors of the legislation. (Search for ‘The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009’)

Click here for a list of current US representative sponsors for this bill.

3) If your representatives have not signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill, send them your request that they do so*. Tell them how important the tax credit was to you when you adopted your children, or how much you and other families you know are counting on the credit to be available in the future. Emphasize that the tax credit truly results in more children finding homes. Tell them that this is so important to you that you will be following the bill's progress through Congress.

(This bill is currently referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. It has not yet reached the Senate.)

4) Include a family photo: While e-mails are valuable, a written note with a picture of your family or your children will be most effective. If sending e-mail, you'll want to avoid attaching a photo; the large size of the message and the attachment could, potentially, mark it as junk or harmful e-mail.

5) If any of your congresspersons are already co-sponsors, write them a thank-you note. Again, letters sent by snail-mail with photos of your children will receive more attention.

Click here for sample letters.

Your personal story can help. See this example from a blogging adoptive family,

“I wrote my local Congressman regarding supporting the bill. I told him our infertility and adoption story. His office from DC called me. They told me that my letter touched him deeply and he has decided to co-sponsor the bill. I am so excited. Now I know the bill has a long way to go. It’s still in committees, but the more support it gains the more of a chance it has of happening. This just goes to show you that writing your representatives in Washington can do something.”

---
*Please note that the above recommendations for letter writing were provided by Adoptive Families magazine. This information was provided here in full as the referenced AF article has minor inaccuracies and the 2009 Bill links unintentionally point to the 2005 bill.

Thank you for your support of this bill and your heart for finding loving homes for children in need globally!

CHI's Melody Speaks on China International Adoption Slowdown, Highlighting Waiting Children Need

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:24:00 +0000

"At a foster home on the outskirts of Beijing, thirteen special needs children are waiting to be adopted," begins Sunday's CNN report, as a CNN correspondent and crew toured Children's Hope International's foster home in Beijing, China.

Flipping through a bound journal of pictures and profiles, CHI's Associate Director Melody Zhang recalls each child who has been cared for at the Home of Children's Hope, since 2004, in great detail. They are children representative of the great need for parents who will open their hearts and homes to children with special medical needs or those who are older.

The children who live in the foster home now range in age from one month to five-years-old and were born with heart conditions, missing limbs, dwarfism, spina bifida, a cleft palate, or blindness and deafness - medical needs their families could not afford to care for.

These children receive healing corrective surgeries and have the opportunity to be adopted domestically or by American or European families. These are huge success stories - as all of these children would not have been available for adoption without their medical care and rehabilitation.

Although thirteen children are under our care at our Beijing foster home, Children's Hope places special needs children from throughout China with Children's Hope application families. Since mid-March, 30 children have been matched or placed with families who will care for them and watch them grow into college-bound teenagers and adults with families of their own.

Seventy children currently are waiting for their own forever family, on our password protected website.

Since 2005, the number of international adoptions from China has slowed. However, Melody reports to CNN, it is not that fewer people want to adopt but there are instead simply more Chinese and foreigners who want to adopt and fewer children up for adoption. This reduction, although it means waits that may grow to 5 years, does not mean families are not needed. It means that there are fewer families that will wait, but hopefully more families whose hearts will open to these special children who desperately need homes.

Children's Hope encourages domestic adoption and has been campaigning for the Chinese orphan in both China and the US. The growing economy in China has given more people the means to raise a child, so Chinese parents are less likely to give up their children.

"In the past, Chinese people would not consider adopting someone out of the family, but more and more people are educated, and they understand the important part is to raise the child, not necessarily a blood tie," Melody says.

In 2008, sixteen children lived in our foster home; four found their forever homes. Beyond those walls, 127 children received corrective surgeries, 8 orphaned children began vocational and technical study, orphans received monthly support from 1148 sponsors, and 6 Tents of Hope served more than 8000 people still suffering in the Sichuan 5.12 earthquake zone.

There is certainly need in China. Children's Hope International hopes to siphon the world's love to fill that need, with Homes, Health and Hope so that no child is forgotten.

Learn more about Children's Hope Waiting Children Program

The Hunt Was On!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:57:00 +0000

On April 4th, Children's Hope families in the St. Louis region came together to hunt Easter eggs and enjoy a surprise visit by the Creve Coeur Fire Department and, of course, the Easter bunny. Thank you for joining us!

Ethiopia Referrals for CHI Waiting Families

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Yesterday was a memorable day for one family that received a referral from Ethiopia. After waiting 9 1/2 months, the family has now received medical and background information and the first photo of their referral. This family expects to travel in 3 1/2 to 4 months, with a positive court decision. The referral was for a 5 1/2-month-old girl. Congratulations!

Last Monday, six additional families received their own referral calls. The referrals were for one infant girl, 3 months old; 2 sibling girls, 3 ½ and 5 years old; three boys, 22 months, 2 ½ years, and 5 years old.

Our Ethiopia Program is also placing Waiting Children on our www.chifamily.net site. You must be an application approved family to enter this site and to review the children. Congratulations to all of Ethiopia families!

To learn more about our Ethiopia Program, click here.

Infant Referral Day for the Colombia Program!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:21:00 +0000

The Colombia Program has had a busy year so far in 2009. Fourteen adoptions have been completed for six families; an additional six families are currently in Colombia or will leave within the next six weeks to adopt nine children; and just this week our families received referrals for infants and sibling groups. Congratulations!

Elizabeth and Joseph Chambers were delighted to have Colombia Director Nichole Deal share their referral photos. The family was approved by Colombia in August 2005, and waited 3 ½ years for this wonderful day. The Chambers Family accepted their referral of a beautiful 13 month old girl on March 3rd.

To learn more about Colombia adoption and how it might fit your family, click here.

Ethiopia Referrals Include Siblings

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to this week's Ethiopia referral families! The children who were referred this week are: 18 months and 3-year-old siblings - girl and boy, a 2 ½ month old girl, and a nearly 19 months old boy. The families are overjoyed. Children are being placed from our special needs/waiting children's website as well. Please join us as we continue pray for our waiting/special needs children who are still waiting to find their forever families.

There are 5 families currently in Ethiopia, and 5 more families traveling this weekend to bring their children home. All the best to you!

What She Learned from Returning to Her Orphanage

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:33:00 +0000

"Last summer, two friends and I returned to the Wuhan Child Welfare Institute in China to work. This was difficult to do because it is against Chinese law for foreigners to work in a state-run facility. We got special permission because the orphanage was once our home. As the first children to be adopted from China in June of 1992, we were also the first to pave the way to return. This fall, we raised $25,000 through Families with Children from China for heart surgeries for these kids."

Zoë Rose Xia Shi Ting Guastella recently wrote a series for the China Connection, a journal for adoptive parents, and the CRLS Register Forum. This week she shared an excerpt with The Cambridge Chronicle. To learn more about her experience and to read the full excerpt visit the Chronicle's website by clicking here.

Your family can follow the example of this young woman. Return to your child's homeland through Children's Hope's partnership with OCDF China Tours and give back to your orphanage with a personal fundraiser. You can even promote your fundraiser through an online web page of your own.

Are You Ready?

Returning to your child's orphanage is an important decision, not to be made lightly. To begin your preparation and to help evaluate your family's readiness, consider researching articles by Dr. Jane Liedtke, founder and CEO of OCDF China Tours, provided below.

* "Returning to China with Your Adopted Child"

* "What's in an Orphanage File?"

* "Walking Down the Village Path"