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!