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.
FTIA's Journey of Hope
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
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!!
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