Children's Hope International E-Newsletter

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

All in His Perfect Timing
A Russia Adoption Story

Adoption MD
Depressed and Combating Infertility: Anti-Depressant Alternatives

DEVELOPMENT AID:

	Development Aid In the Small Things and the Big: Impacting Lives, Yours Through Theirs
	3 Days of Focus A Call to Action: Youth to Turn iPods Off; Their Focus on God, On

BLOG OF THE MONTH:

Reflections
A Winding Road
Leads to a Son

PARENT-TO-PARENT:

Parent-To-Parent
Adopting an Older Child

KIDS CORNER:

Kids Corner
Happy Holidays for
'Crayon' Out Loud!

PROGRAM UPDATES:

	Colombia Waiting for and Uniting - Families
	Ethiopia February Truly a Month of Love for Families Traveling to Ethiopia
	Kazakhstan Program Director Returns From Kazakhstan
	Russia Waiting Families to Experience a Big Spurt of Travel, Post-Accreditation and Post-Holidays!
	Vietnam A New Year for Vietnam Brings Three Families News of Their Referral

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is right for your family.

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Our Accreditations

CHINA PROGRAM UPDATES

Referrals:
Thuy and David Smith (pictured, below) of St. Louis, MO, along with 10 additional Children's Hope families adopting from China celebrated Monday, February 4, as their referral day. These eleven families saw pictures and reviewed medical information on their new child for the first time.

Each family was matched with one of 9 beautiful little girls and 2 handsome little boys from the Gansu, Guangdong, and Jilin provinces and Tianjin City. These infants range in age from 7 - 15 months and 24 - 28 months. The families� paperwork was logged in China on December 20, 2005. Each waited 25 long months from their paperwork receipt in China to their referral day.

Parents travel to China approximately 8 weeks after their referral day to complete their Chinese adoptions. Congratulations to these families and all our China families who have moved up in line. The next group of referrals will begin with the December 28, 2005, log-in-date. Our next log-in-date is January 6, 2006.

As soon as Thuy and David received their referral, the two year wait didn�t seem so long after all.

Waiting Children News:
On our February referral day, we also received official referrals for 5 waiting children families, and 3 more the very next day, February 5. We are very excited about the speedy processing of the CCAA/Agency Information System for special needs children. Congratulations to these families!

This month 12 waiting children�those children whom are older or have special medical needs-and 6 additional children from the multiple agency waiting children have been placed with Children�s Hope families this month. Congratulations to these families! Three waiting children and 4 hard to place/multiple agency waiting children are being reviewed.

Wait Time from Paperwork Submission to Referral:
The current waiting time from paperwork receipt in China until referral is 25 months. We fully expect the wait time to grow to over 2 years in 2008 and continue to climb over time to possibly 4 years.

Travel:
Our late December referral group and 5 waiting children families will travel to China on February 28 and will return March 13 or 14 (depending on the child�s province). The early December referral group returned after completing their Chinese adoptions on January 31. Welcome home!

Monthly China Newsletter:
Due to the rising costs of paper and postage, beginning January 2008 the China families� newsletter was and will be sent to you from your adoption consultant via email. The January 2008 newsletter is also available to all Children�s Hope families on CHI Family Net (click on Newsletter on the side menu on the CHI Family Net homepage), along with all the back issues for your convenience. We hope you will enjoy this new email format as it is delivered more quickly and we have been able to add many more pages and pictures. Please let us know if there is a topic you would like us to address in an upcoming newsletter.

Please note the newsletter is sent as a .PDF file which requires Acrobat Reader to view. If you do not have Acrobat Reader you can download a free version. If you are unable to view the newsletter, please let us know so that we can make one available to you.

Chinese New Year - China celebrated Chinese New Year from February 6 through February 13. Happy New Year, China!

2008 Completed Adoptions: 11

�One of our dearest friends had sent the one thing all little girls adore� bright, puffy tutus!� say parents Chris Deck and Melissa Scolaro of their twins AnMei and JiaLi�s outfits. �We couldn�t tear them off of them, even at bedtime!

�We are doing great and the joy just keeps growing. Celebrating our first Gotcha Anniversary in December and their 2nd birthdays in February were major milestones. The girls are thriving in every way we could imagine.

�To all the families waiting on your little valentine� it�s ALL worth it, don�t lose hope! As one family that has made it through the process, the long wait is like a grain of sand compared to the happiness when you are finally united with your child and start your lives together as a family.�

Chris and Melissa adopted their twin daughters from China in December 2006.

If you would like to share your thoughts, experiences or stories about your adoption,
email: Jennifer Newcomb at Jennifer.Newcomb@ChildrensHope.net

We would love to post your family pictures!