China Program Updates

In mid-March the Children’s Hope China Team was proud to once again begin matching Waiting Children with our families. In April, Children’s Hope was assigned our first 2009 dedicated list of Waiting Children. Together with the Multi-Agency list, 51 children are now being pursued for international adoption...

We are thrilled to announce that Children's Hope International received the best gift this Christmas season - Hague Accreditation! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Our Hague accreditation signifies that CHI meets

On Tuesday, September 2, the China program received 22 referrals for our China families. These families waited 31 long months for their referral day. The children are from Beijing and the Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and the Guangdong Provinces and range in age from 5 months to 9 months old. Also in this referral group were several toddler girls and one very special boy.

Travel - June 6^th was a day to remember for 15 Children’s Hope families. On that day families that had waited 29 months for a referral saw photos and information on their child for the first time. Seven of those elated parents are now home, united as a family, this month. The 8 remaining families are successfully en route to China to finalize their Chinese adoptions in early September.

Congratulations to all of these families! Children’s Hope wishes you all the best as you adjust to life at home together.

Children's Hope received three China referrals on July 7 for Chinese expedited families. There were two beautiful little girls and one handsome little boy. The children are from the Jiangsu Province and are 11 months, 14 months, and 20 months old. These expedited families waited 18 months for their referrals.

We received 15 referrals on June 9!! There were two boys and 13 girls who will soon be with their new loving families. The age of the children ranged from 8-months-old to 22-months-old which put all within the age range of what was requested by the families. This referral day covered January 13, 2006 to January 16, 2006 for a nearly 29 month wait. The next log-in-date to receive referrals is February 9, 2006. In addition to today's referrals, Children's Hope received three seeking confirmation letters for families adopting waiting children.

Nine families are leaving this week to complete their Chinese adoptions, and will be in China for Mother's Day. On May 29, 18 more families will travel before China settles into Olympic mode. Congratulations to all these families and soon to be mothers!

The China Multiple Agency Waiting Children web site has been very active since our Children's Hope inception into the new electronic program in January. This month we have been able to submit letters of intent for several families.

Traveling: Eleven families from Children's Hope International's February referral group and 14 waiting children families are currently traveling in China, successfully completing their adoptions. All 25 of these families will return home Thursday, April 10 through Saturday, April 12, depending on their child's province. These families have been having a great time, enjoying their large travel group, bonding with their children and their children's friends, and seeing all the local sites in China. See this month's Blog(s!) of the Month for an up close look at all the fun and excitement.

What does it mean to be a Waiting Child? Older children or those with special medical needs are not so easily matched for adoption. Young healthy infants are quickly placed into loving families, as older children look on. When a child is adopted through the Waiting Child program, it is now their turn to find the love and care of their very own parents.

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.

Going into the new year of 2008, we are thankful for each and every moment we have shared with our wonderful China families and joyfully look forward to what this year will bring. Children’s Hope is honored to be walking your adoption journey with you and your family!

Referrals: On December 31, 2007, six of our families adopting from China received referrals, each for a beautiful little girl. These girls, all from the Guizhou province, range in age from 14 months to 4 years old. The girls’ new families waited 25 long months for this day, from their adoption paperwork submission to China on December 19, 2005. We expect these families to travel in about 8 weeks. Congratulations!

On December 6, Children's Hope received referrals for five happy families adopting from China. Each family saw their first pictures and reviewed medical information for a daughter. The girls range in age from 9-10 months, and are from the Jiangxi province.

These referral families all had their adoption paperwork added to the CCAA's database on December 13, 2005. After waiting 24 long months from log-in-date to referral, we expect these families to travel in about 8 weeks. Congratulations! The CCAA’s next group of referrals will begin with the December 15, 2005 log-in-date. The next log-in-dates for Children’s Hope families are December 19 and 20.  We fully expect the wait time from log-in-date to referral to grow to over two years in 2008 and continue to climb to possibly four years over time. 

The Children’s Hope China Team is very excited to announce that 26 waiting children have been placed with our China families this month and several children are currently being reviewed. Waiting children are those children available for adoption who are older or have medical needs. Congratulations to these families!

The Children's Hope China Team also received healthy infant referrals on November 5 for ten of our China families. The 10 beautiful little girls are from the Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Liaoning provinces. Nine of the girls range in age from 6½ to 13 months; and one toddler girl, just over 3 ½ years old, was referred to a St. Louis family. When her parents were presented her referral, they said, “We are thrilled; she is so beautiful!”

Children's Hope China team received twelve referrals on the first of October for our 11/28/05 log-in-date families and our 8/8/06 and 8/29/06 Chinese expedited families! The referrals are for twelve beautiful little girls from the Chongqing, Jiangxi and Shanghai provinces. These girls range in age from 6.5 to 9 months, and one 2.5-year-old. Our families waited 22 months from the completion of their adoption paperwork to referral; the Chinese expedited families, 14 months. We expect these families to travel in about 7 weeks to complete their China adoptions.

Traveling! Children’s Hope families who received referrals in July just recently returned home with their children and those who were matched in August left for China for the Hunan, Anhui, and Guangdong provinces this week. This month, our families are staying at The Garden while in Guangzhou finalizing their adoptions with the US Consulate (please find more information below). We are very fortunate that these families will be home before the celebrations of the Harvest Moon Festival holidays and the Guangzhou Trade Fair!

Reminder: Children’s Hope offices will be closed on Monday, September 3 in observance of Labor Day; we wish all our families a fun-filled and safe holiday weekend!

The August China program newsletters were mailed today. This latest issue is also available on CHI Family Net under "Newsletters", "China", "August 2007". We are requesting our next group of waiting children and will provide information when we receive the next list to the CHI Family Net site as well.

Referral News: On August 2, twenty-two families celebrated their referral through Children’s Hope for their China adoption, including four referrals for Chinese expedited families. Twenty-one beautiful little girls and one very handsome boy made up the group matched with their forever families. They range in age from 7- to 20-months up to 37 months. These families waited 21 months since their paperwork was registered in China to their referral day; the Chinese expedited families, 14 months.

Congratulations to these families and all our China families who are approaching their own referral day!

The China team reunited with 229 China children at the Children’s Hope Reunion Picnic on Saturday. We had a wonderful day celebrating with our families! Many travel groups from years past planned to come together for a full weekend; some groups even matched with tie-dye t-shirts. Packing peanuts in blow-up swim pools? This was a family favorite, along with a performance by singing Babaloo and the face painting and balloon animal art of Funnie Farm.