Jimmy!

Jimmy is 9 years old and has a mild developmental delay. He was brought to the orphanage at age 8 and now lives in foster care. He is in special education class but is close to other children his age. He can read simple Chinese characters. He likes riding bikes and any games that involve a ball. He is quiet, gets along well with others, and is introverted mostly when around strangers; otherwise he is a friendly and active young boy. He can take care of himself and will help the other children. You can see him performing in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbGPLfI3DG4&feature=channel) , along with Flower and Marc.
Jimmy's paperwork wasn't finished being processed at the time of our program, so he was just recently added to our list.

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.