Sean & Drew have families

We are very pleased to announce that the CCAA has issued pre-approvals for two families in the process of adopting Sean & Drew! Congratulations to these families and these 2 boys. We can't wait for them to come home.

Also, Tina is now available again. She is the 2 year old girl with a congenital heart defect.

We are hopeful that many more of these children will be coming home in 2011.
Happy New Year!

First Journey of Hope child comes home!

Malia is on her way home! Formerly known as "Sue" from our Journey of Hope program, Malia is the first of our children from this program to come home. This photo was taken in China and as you can see, she seems quite happy with her new family! (If you are reading this message on our yahoo group, you can go to the blog to see the photo at ftia-joh.blogspot.com.)

We have a few more families working on their paperwork to bring home some of our Journey of Hope children, and a few more that are currently reviewing a child's file; but we need to find a lot more families. Below is a list of the children that are currently available, to learn more about any of them, please go to our website at: http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asp

Looking for families:
Grace, 5 years old, brittle bone disease
June, 6, developmental & mental delays
Rose, 7, right foot post ATL, mental delay
Hope, 7, seizures, shunted for hydrocephalus
Flower, 10, right ptosis, low intelligence development
Sunny, 13, mild intellectual development delay
Cate, 4, cerebral palsy
Natalie, 12, repaired cleft lip & palate
Hannah, 9, congenital hip dislocation
Max, 3, cerebral palsy
Taylor, hermaphroditism
Evan, 4, mouth deformity
Hunter, 5, brain underdevelopment
Ben, 5, thalassemia
Jack, 5, postoperative congenital acromphalus
Parker, 5, deformed ears and conduction dysfunction
Cooper, 6, post-op cataracts & nystagmus
Jaxon, 7, missing left hand
Chase, 7, congenital deafness
Lee, 7, cerebral palsy
Tanner, 7, delayed development
Drake, 7, deformity of left face & ear
Mitchell, 8, post-op cleft lip and palate
Rider, 8, post-op cleft lip and palate
Joel, 10, mild claudication of right lower limb
Matt, 10, missing fibula of left leg
Marc, 13, delayed mental development, Hep B
Mason, 5, post-op spinal meningioma
Jon, 5, post-op groin hernia, mild delay
Danny, 3, cytomegalo virus infection
Ian, 3, post-op cleft lip & palate, missing right foot

Jaxon

Jaxon is 7 years old and in 1st grade. He is a good student, with Math and Chinese as his favorite subjects. He also likes to read. He is a very friendly boy and can carry on a conversation well. He made a very colorful picture for us, complete with a house by water (with fish) and blue skies full of birds and butterflies! Jaxon is missing his left hand. (To see Jaxon's photos, please go to the Journey of Hope blog at: www.ftia-joh.blogspot.com.)

Liam

Liam is 5 years old one of our "Special Focus" children. He has AMC which affects his arms and hands, and they are casting his hands to get them into a more functional position for him. They have finished casting one hand and are very pleased with the result. He currently does stretches each day and wears a hand brace to keep the hand in the new position, but he is out of the brace in the mornings for his school class, so he can become more adept at using it. Liam was recently seen by a Western physician who said he believes he has the potential for significantly increased function in his fingers, with therapy. He also thought that tendon transfers could be done for his elbows and shoulders, which would give a lot of potential for increased function.


Liam plays well with the other children, and accepts help when he needs it, but tries to do things on his own most of the time. He has a very soft side to him and really enjoys sitting on his favorite Caregivers' laps and have a cuddle. His general health is very good, he runs and rides bikes, and even manages to ride a scooter. He is learning well in the Elementary class and cooperates and follows instructions well.

FTIA has a little over a month to find a family for Liam and then his file will go back on the shared list. Please contact us if you would like more information on this little guy!

10 Things Adoptive Parents Need Know - #1

Program Updates

Our five families current in China have met their children and are doing well! We have another family that will be leaving next week to meet their new daughter.

We did not receive any new approvals this week; but since CCAA was closed last week, this was as expected.



Other Information
Over the next ten weeks, we will be sharing the Ten Things Adoptive Parents Need to Know, which was developed by Richard Sudsberry, MA, LMFT, LMHC, who is a clinician specializing in attachment and children. At the conclusion of these ten weeks, Rick will host a webinar for our families to answer questions and have more in-depth discussion about the ideas or concepts that we have shared. All of these issues focus on intentional logics to reduce fear, regulate, distract, and mature children over time. Love replaces fear, fear cannot reduce fear in a child’s mind, only love can!

This week we begin with Concept #1 – Spend time in your child’s world. Your child wants and needs time with you each day, where you are “in their world’ by playing, sitting on the floor, and involving them in home based activities. Minimally, we think parents should spend at least 30 minutes daily. Of course, more is better! If you have more than one child, this time, ideally, should be individual with each child. Some ideas of things you might do with your child are:

Puzzles/or books by having your child on your lap
Play on the floor with toys
Blow bubbles
Mimic facial expressions
Fix one another’s hair
For older children, you may want to simply sit and talk
Make a dessert or meal together

It would be good to have your child give you ideas about what he/she would like to do with their “mommy time” or “daddy time”. You will be surprised how quickly ideas emerge and how excited your child will be!



As a reminder, CIS has announced new fees for I600A and I800A applications starting 11/23/10. For applications received after this date, the fee will now be $720 and biometrics will cost $85 per person. This is up from the previous fees of $670 for the application and $80 for biometrics.
For more information, follow this link: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=53173dc5cb93b210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Rider

Have you looked at “Rider” yet in our Journey of Hope program? He is an 8 year old boy with postoperative cleft lip and cleft palate. He is completing the 1st grade and can read and write. Rider enjoys martial arts and performed during the opening ceremony for Journey of Hope. Rider is an active boy, who is extroverted and gets along well with others. He shared with us that he really likes robots. Rider’s foster sister of over 4 years will be going home to her new family in the US soon. Her family hopes that Rider will also be adopted soon and the two children can stay in contact, as they are very close friends.

If you’d like to learn more about Rider or any of our other Journey of Hope children, please go to our website at: http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asp Families that currently have active applications with FTIA can see all the files of the Journey of Hope children and the Special Focus children by joining the JOH Yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FTIA-JOH. If you aren’t currently active with FTIA, just fill out and fax us an application (with no fees) and once received, we will send you an invitation to join the Yahoo group.

Sunny

This week we want to tell you about “Sunny!” Sunny is a shy and quiet 12 year old girl in our Journey of Hope program. She is in 4th grade and her favorite subjects are Chinese and English. She likes basketball and running. She rides her bike 20 minutes to school every day and last year ran in a marathon!

Sunny participated in another Journey of Hope program last year and was sad that she didn’t find a family. She has been with a foster family for six years now. Her foster mother describes her as kind and loving, likes to share, and help with housework. She says that Sunny saves her money for donating. Sunny has a mild intellectual delay due to hydrocephalus and a brain tumor which was repaired about eight years ago. Sunny also loves arts and crafts and brought several of her handicrafts to show us.

If you’d like to learn more about Sunny or any of our other Journey of Hope children, please go to our website at: http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asp Families that currently have active applications with FTIA can see all the files of the Journey of Hope children and the Special Focus children by joining the JOH Yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FTIA-JOH. If you aren’t currently active with FTIA, just fill out and fax us an application (with no fees) and once received, we will send you an invitation to join the Yahoo group.

Alex

Alex was the biggest giggler of all the Journey of Hope kids! His favorite game with the doctors was to take their equipment and walk away with it – waiting for them to catch him. Give this boy a retractable tape measure and he could laugh for hours! There is ashort clip of him available here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFCxbAq3Ca8&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFCxbAq3Ca8&NR=1>Alex lives with hydrocephalus. Alex has had no treatment for this condition up to this point. However, he has no limitations. In fact, he is at or above target in most areas when compared to children his age.He is 4 years old and has good muscle tone and reflexes. He interacts well and is extroverted.To learn more about the Journey of Hope program, please go to our website at:http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asphttp://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asp> Families do no tneed to officially apply with FTIA to review the Journey of Hope children's files – they only need to fax us a completedapplication in order that we can determine their eligibility to adopt.

Sean

This week we feel compelled to tell you about Sean. It’s hard to describe Sean in just a few words! His has the best personality and we all believe that he will do great things as an adult. He is a bright 11 year old, in 4th grade and his favorite subject is computer. He enjoys reading about science and technology and his favorite sport is soccer. Sean’s personality fills a room! He is great with the younger kids and was nicknamed the “Little Director” because he was keeping them all in line for their program. Sean was disappointed last year when he participated in another Journey of Hope program but did not find a family. He wants to live in America because everyone has a house! He has been in a foster family for 4 years but desperately wants a forever family - maybe with an older brother and sister. Sean was born with cleft lip and palate and has had surgery for both. He may need some reconstruction and some dental work; however, his speech is excellent and he liked practicing his English on us! Part of our interview with Sean can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT-hJiasqe4&feature=channel.

Sean and Natalie (featured last week) are great friends and we hope that they will both find families that will let them stay in contact. Sean was often found “coaching” Natalie while we were interviewing her!

Natalie

This week, we’d like to tell you more about the girl we nicknamed as “Natalie.” Natalie is a beautiful 11 year old girl, who just doesn’t realize how beautiful she truly is. Natalie was born with a cleft lip and palate. She had palate surgery done at the age of 5 and 7, so didn’t learn to speak clearly. Because of this, Natalie is not comfortable speaking and is very shy. Natalie seemed very curious about us though as I noticed her most of the time we were there – just barely on the outskirts of most activities. Natalie does very well in school and is currently in 6th grade. She has taken some English but is not confident enough to try to speak it. She has been with a foster family for 10 years and they report that she is very helpful with housework and has a gentle and clever personality.
Natalie says that reading makes her happy as well as playing ping pong. She also said she would like to have some siblings! Once home, Natalie will probably need some cosmetic work on her lip as well as some dental work. You can see Natalie at the beginning of this Video
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg8rJJ-_dUM&feature=channel). To learn more about Natalie or the process for the Journey of Hope files, please go to the Journey of Hope page on our website.

Article on Journey of Hope

Please be sure to read the Journey of Hope article in our current FTIA Newsletter by going to:

http://www.ftia.org/newsletter/index.asp?set=453&all=37&step=no

Towards the bottom of the page, there is also a link to a pdf poster that you can print out and post at your local church, library, place of business, or anywhere you can think of that would help get the word out.

Thanks for your support!

The Files Are Up!!!

We know you've been waiting to see and hear about all of the beautiful children we met during our program. Finally, you can see a photo and a short description about each child by going to our webpage at: http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asp

You will also find a description on how the process for adopting one of these children works.

Recap of Journey of Hope Program

I can’t even begin to put into words the experiences we’ve had on this Journey. The past few days were very long, emotional days, but we were able to gather invaluable information on the children – information that we never would have gotten from just viewing their paper files. Although we saw many special needs from minor to major, we saw one thing in common with all the children – they all need and want a family.

The first day of the program began with speeches to kick off the ceremonies. FTIA presented a slide show to explain to the children how we find families and what life is like in the US. Next, the children participated in individual and group performances. After lunch, we were able to individually interview, videotape, and complete a medical and social evaluation on most of the children. It was invaluable having Drs. Keck and Champley with us to examine each child. Today, the closing day of the program, we were able to finish our evaluations of the children and just have some good play time that included lots of physical contact. The closing ceremony was an emotional one, filled with promises of doing everything possible to help these children find their forever families.

We were able to go beyond the 31 children originally assigned to us and saw 9 additional children, as well as several others at the Nantong SWI. It seemed as though there was always just one more child that the orphanage staff wanted us to see.

We feel very privileged to have participated in this program, yet very humbled by the task ahead of us. Just before leaving, one little girl asked us “What are you going to do for me?” Our response was “We are going back to America and try to find a family for you.” The girl’s response was “How are you going to contact me? I don’t have a cell phone – I knew I should have gotten a cell phone.”

If you are reading this post, we know you must have an interest in adoption. Even if you aren’t in a position to adopt, please help us help these children find families by getting the word out. Come back to this blog soon as we will be posting information on these children upon our return.

Welcome to Nantong!

After about 24 hours of straight travel, we arrived in the city of Nantong. After checking into our hotel room we were greeted by Ms. Zhou, from Nantong SWI, who is responsible for the Journey of Hope program. We weren’t aware that the staff from the orphanage had been waiting for our arrival to share a big meal with us. After trying to “freshen up” we met 4 directors from Nantong along with Ms. Zhou for quite a feast of Chinese delicacies!

The following day (Monday), we went to visit the orphanage while they were rehearsing for the program. Ms. Zhou wanted us to also meet several children there who were not participating in the program. It was quite obvious that Ms. Zhou has such a big heart for the children, as she pointed out every one of them that she really wants to have a family. While she acknowledged that the orphanage takes very good care of the children, she realizes that they need to be in a family as soon as they can be in order to develop as they should.

We met an 11 year old boy that we have nicknamed Sean. Sean has a repaired cleft lip and palate and talks very clearly in both Chinese and English. He earned the nickname of the “Little Leader” as he was working very hard to lead the other children in their performance.

We met “Sunny” who was a bit shy with us. She is 12 years old and was born with hydrocephalus. She came to the orphanage with her foster mother of 6 years, who was clearly proud of her. She brought some of her artwork and crafts to show us what she had made. Sunny rides her bike 20 minutes every day to school. She saves her money to use for donations.

Some of the children whose files we weren’t assigned, but who really want us to find families for including little Ting Ting. She immediately captured all of our attention, and rarely let us lose sight of her. Ting Ting had a tumor on her brain that caused her to be significantly delayed in her growth. When seeing her one would think she was around 5-6 years old but is actually 12 years old. The tumor has been removed and we are hopeful that we can find a family for her that will help her reach her full potential. Ting Ting loves to be hugged and has a ready for smile for every adult she sees.

We met 3 children with Down’s Syndrome. Ms. Zhou reports that all 3 are relatively independent. One of these little girls insisted on taking our pens and practicing her writing skills!

The one thing that has impressed us the most here is the loving attention that these children have from the orphanage staff. All of the children, even the few that are severely handicapped, clearly recognized Ms. Zhou and smiled or hugged her every time she entered their room.

Today we will do some sightseeing of Nantong and then meet with CCAA officials for supper. Tomorrow will the official start of our program. It should be a very long day, but we’ll try to upload more pictures as soon as we can!

A Journey of Hope

FTIA is pleased to announce our newest China adoption program, Journey of Hope! This program is designed to find families for some of the most fragile of China's orphans - those children who might not otherwise find their permanent loving families. Our program will truly be a "Journey of Hope" as a team of FTIA staff will travel to Jiangsu province in China July 4-10 to meet with 31 children whose files have been assigned exclusively to FTIA. Our team will consist of our Program Manager, Director of Social Work Services, and an international adoption physician. We will be able to play with, interview, evaluate, and video each child to learn as much as we can about each of their needs, personalities, and dreams of a family. We'll be playing games with the children and using an Olympic theme for the program. Our team will then return home and will have one year to find families for these children.

It is our utmost hope that we find forever families for every one of these 31 special children. Our journey will be amazing and we'd like to encourage all of our FTIA families, past and present, to help make this program a success. We need your help even if you aren't in a position to adopt one of these children. We estimate the cost of this program will be about $12,000; and we need to find sponsors to help us with this cost. Since we are using an Olympic theme, we will have 3 levels of sponsorship: gold medal (donation of $500), silver medal (donation of $250), and bronze medal (donation of $100). These 3 medal levels of sponsorship are suggested amounts, and we will of course gladly accept any amount your are able to donate. All donations are tax deductible and can be made via PayPal on our website or by mailing a check payable to FTIA with "Journey of Hope" in the memo line. We want to make our Journey of Hope an Olympic-sized success and know that, with the help of our families, we will!!