04/02/2009
04/06/2009
Monday, April 6, 2009: Feature Story ~ Special Needs Adoption
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Making God Laugh and Finding our Daughter
My husband and I were married later in life. We thought, however, that we would beat the “biological clock” and would get pregnant. It didn’t happen. We tried to “make” it happen with some fertility tests and treatments. So many people would tell me “you can always adopt,” when I asked them to pray for us to have a biological baby. For some reason the unsolicited advice did not sit well with me. I believe because it was not yet time for us to find our daughter.
My husband prayed about our desire for a child, and we discussed our marriage promises to be open to the gift of children. We promised to be open to “children” – not necessarily “biological” children. God did a work in our hearts, and we soon both desired to adopt a child – and we both felt our child was in China.
Actually, we both agreed we would adopt a non-special needs, as young as possible child. After all, we were first time parents – of course we ought to start out with an infant. I love the saying – “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans!” God must have had a good chuckle about our adoption plans. I call the wait for non-special needs child a “blessed wait,” because it allowed us to find our daughter. We did not know there were so many waiting, older children in China. We had thought the need was to find families for healthy infants. With so many families in line for healthy infants, however, we thought we just could not pass by the precious older waiting children. We were waiting for a child, and so many children were waiting for families – why not trust God had a match for us!
We spoke with our dear social worker about our desire to consider a special needs child – but ONLY minor, correctible needs (insert laughter from God). At first we were open to cleft lip and cleft palate, then limb differences and deafness. We had the opportunity to review the file of a 6-year old (gasp!) girl’s file after we were not matched with a few sweet special needs younger children whom we requested. This little gal had severe scoliosis and repaired cleft lip and palate. We received a sobering medical review. We came back to the bottom-line of the review – “with appropriate medical attention JunFen would live a full, active life.” My husband has good medical benefits, and we are blessed with excellent children hospitals near us – we had found our daughter! We were matched!
While we waited for our JunFen, we educated ourselves in the challenges of older child adoptions, learned basic Mandarin parenting phrases and sent lots of care packages to our sweet daughter. I traveled to China alone as my husband is not an international traveler. I prepared for a tough transition – but was blessed with an incredibly smooth one. She is a delight and a perfect fit for us. We often comment how her goofiness and sense of humor so matches my husband’s personality! We have some challenging surgeries ahead, but we know God has given us the desire of our hearts – and He will be with us in each stage of our family life together. You can visit our website documenting our adoption at Family Blog
*Please keep this family in your prayers as precious JunFen is currently going through extended hospitalization for some medical procedures. The China Team thanks this family for generously sharing their family in an effort to help find forever families for more children with special needs.
04/07/2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009: CCAA Portal Update!
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CCAA Portal Update!
LID’s through the review room: March 31, 2007
LID’s through referral: March 8, 2006 (this reflects two calendar weekdays of progress, from March 6)
Our next BCS LID's from 06 are: March 9, March 14, March 24 & March 28
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CCAA Portal Update!
LID’s through the review room: March 31, 2007
LID’s through referral: March 8, 2006 (this reflects two calendar weekdays of progress, from March 6)
Our next BCS LID's from 06 are: March 9, March 14, March 24 & March 28
- We are awaiting "expedited"
referrals for families with April 07 LID's
Although we did not receive any "healthy" (also knows as: non-identified special needs) referrals this month, we did match approximately 30 children with "special needs" in the last month. Praise God!!!!
04/27/2009
Monday, April 27, 2009: Bethany will participate in another project for SN children!
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Last fall, Bethany Christian Services celebrated an opportunity to send two social workers to China for the "Hope of Autumn" Beijing project. We were one of five agencies to participate in this project. This program helped to "paper-ready" children with special needs for adoption. We continue to work on finding families for the remaining referrals, but overall, the program was very successful. The unmatched/remaining referrals have been published to our website for you to review and pray for.
BCS Website China SN referrals
Due to our commitment to children with special needs, we are the first agency to be "re-invited" to participate in a second program like this... praise God!!!
We are pleased to announce that Kristina Huisinga (MN branch) and Belinda Geertsma (Holland, MI branch) will be representing Bethany Christian Services in Shanghai, China for our next "special needs camp" in mid-May. Please keep these ladies in your prayers for safe travel and productive orphanage visits. Our goal is to help children with special needs find permanency. Their task will be to meet with each of the thirty-some children and provide a general assessment on each of them to bring back to the U.S. so that we can help these children find their forever families. We again will have exclusive rights to these thirty-some referrals. The children's ages, gender and special needs greatly vary. Once we have official referrals on these children, we will begin matching them to our Bethany families in the SN program (previously known as Children of Promise/COP program). We will match the referrals to eligible families in our SN program first, then open the referrals up to all BCS China families (i.e. exclusive list like the one sent out recently) and if referrals remain unmatched, we will again go public on our website.
Programs like this have been encouraging to know that CCAA is committed to these precious children. It is also encouraging to our waiting families in the SN program. We appreciate your continued support and prayers!
Bookmark :
Last fall, Bethany Christian Services celebrated an opportunity to send two social workers to China for the "Hope of Autumn" Beijing project. We were one of five agencies to participate in this project. This program helped to "paper-ready" children with special needs for adoption. We continue to work on finding families for the remaining referrals, but overall, the program was very successful. The unmatched/remaining referrals have been published to our website for you to review and pray for.
BCS Website China SN referrals
Due to our commitment to children with special needs, we are the first agency to be "re-invited" to participate in a second program like this... praise God!!!
We are pleased to announce that Kristina Huisinga (MN branch) and Belinda Geertsma (Holland, MI branch) will be representing Bethany Christian Services in Shanghai, China for our next "special needs camp" in mid-May. Please keep these ladies in your prayers for safe travel and productive orphanage visits. Our goal is to help children with special needs find permanency. Their task will be to meet with each of the thirty-some children and provide a general assessment on each of them to bring back to the U.S. so that we can help these children find their forever families. We again will have exclusive rights to these thirty-some referrals. The children's ages, gender and special needs greatly vary. Once we have official referrals on these children, we will begin matching them to our Bethany families in the SN program (previously known as Children of Promise/COP program). We will match the referrals to eligible families in our SN program first, then open the referrals up to all BCS China families (i.e. exclusive list like the one sent out recently) and if referrals remain unmatched, we will again go public on our website.
Programs like this have been encouraging to know that CCAA is committed to these precious children. It is also encouraging to our waiting families in the SN program. We appreciate your continued support and prayers!
04/28/2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009: Congratulations April 2007 LID's!
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CCAA updated their portal box to reflect a new batch of dossiers through the review room. The new date is: April 30, 2007 (previously March 31, 2007).
All dossiers "logged-in" on or prior to April 30, 2007 have been officially approved by the CCAA. Congratulations on this big step toward your China adoption!!!
Bookmark :
CCAA updated their portal box to reflect a new batch of dossiers through the review room. The new date is: April 30, 2007 (previously March 31, 2007).
All dossiers "logged-in" on or prior to April 30, 2007 have been officially approved by the CCAA. Congratulations on this big step toward your China adoption!!!
04/29/2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009: Swine Flu and Rumors (UPDATED April 30)
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Dear Bethany Families,
We have received inquiries about the many rumors circulating due to the global Swine Flu epidemic. At this point, CCAA has not made any official announcement to agencies about suspending the sending of paperwork (i.e. referrals, LOA, Travel Invitations, etc.).
CCAA did, however, post on their public website (as well as the private portal) that all Travel Invitations issued between March 1 and April 30 will have a longer validity date (in the event that the respective Province delays the adoption registration) and that all current travel plans should be delayed until further notice. If families decide to travel they should be aware of the symptoms, report them immediately and not be allowed to visit orphanages (to reduce the exposure to the children from outsiders). The prospective delays made no mention of delaying the sending of paperwork.
On another note, related to travel... we recently announced the Shanghai Camp of Hope for mid-May. This trip for our two social workers was canceled due to the orphanage not desiring any external exposure to their vulnerable children. We anticipate rescheduling this trip and project in the near future.
May 1 is the “International Labor Day” holiday celebrated throughout China, and therefore, CCAA has a regular scheduled holiday (offices closed). We anticipate receiving an update later next week.
When we learn any new information as to if/how the Swine Flu may affect any portion of your adoption process, we will post the information here. Please check back for updates.
We pray for those affected by this epidemic and the vulnerable children that continue to wait for their families.
Blessings,
~The China Team
Bookmark :
Dear Bethany Families,
We have received inquiries about the many rumors circulating due to the global Swine Flu epidemic. At this point, CCAA has not made any official announcement to agencies about suspending the sending of paperwork (i.e. referrals, LOA, Travel Invitations, etc.).
CCAA did, however, post on their public website (as well as the private portal) that all Travel Invitations issued between March 1 and April 30 will have a longer validity date (in the event that the respective Province delays the adoption registration) and that all current travel plans should be delayed until further notice. If families decide to travel they should be aware of the symptoms, report them immediately and not be allowed to visit orphanages (to reduce the exposure to the children from outsiders). The prospective delays made no mention of delaying the sending of paperwork.
On another note, related to travel... we recently announced the Shanghai Camp of Hope for mid-May. This trip for our two social workers was canceled due to the orphanage not desiring any external exposure to their vulnerable children. We anticipate rescheduling this trip and project in the near future.
May 1 is the “International Labor Day” holiday celebrated throughout China, and therefore, CCAA has a regular scheduled holiday (offices closed). We anticipate receiving an update later next week.
When we learn any new information as to if/how the Swine Flu may affect any portion of your adoption process, we will post the information here. Please check back for updates.
We pray for those affected by this epidemic and the vulnerable children that continue to wait for their families.
Blessings,
~The China Team
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