FCC NY Event

The Greater NY chapter of Families with Children from China (FCC) will be presenting "A Lecture by Professor David Smolin: The Missing Girls of China". The lecture will be held on Friday, Sept. 9th from 6-9pm at The National Arts Club in New York, NY. The event is open to FCCNY members, as well as non-members.

Professor Smolin will speak to and analyze the present impact on international adoption of China's "one-child policy" and other policies, and present his views on possible solutions.

To learn more about the event or to register, please visit FCC's website. The online registration deadline is Sept. 5th.

Save the Date - Visitors from Shanghai!

Gladney Center for Adoption is honored to host 5 officials from Shanghai next month! Representatives from the Shanghai Children’s Home (SCH) and local government will be travelling to the US to meet with agencies and families to learn more about the adoption process from the other side of the globe.

Gladney will hold two events, one in the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area on Wednesday, Sept. 14th and another in NYC on Monday, Sept. 19th to welcome our visitors. The officials are also excited to mingle with families who have adopted from China, as well as families that are interested in adopting through Gladney’s Shanghai Children’s Home partnership program.

Director Gongzhan Wu and Asia Program Caseworker Lindsay Hatcher meet children from SCH’s foster care program.

Gongzhan and Lindsay outside of SCH with one of the social workers.

Additional information about the two events will be provided within the next week. We look forward to having many adoptive families join us in welcoming these special visitors!

Sarah, James and Kathryn have been having a busy, fun summer in NYC! The three had their older cousin from Germany taking care of them in July and he took these pictures of Sarah on the beach at Coney Island, James on the subway, and Kathryn relaxing at home. The whole family enjoyed a trip to Fire Island in July and will be going to Mohonk Mountain House at the end of August. Right now the sibs are all in day camp and having a lot of fun!

Please send your Summer Fun pictures to mary.chapman@gladney.org to be posted on the blog!

Whitney Enjoys Turks & Caicos!

Our family enjoyed a quick trip to Turks & Caicos. Whitney sure enjoyed her time in the water and playing on the beach.

Family Fun Time!

Keira, who came home through Gladney's Asia Waiting Child Program last year, met her cousin Mikey for the first time this 4th of July - they instantly became fast friends! The cousins spent their time together celebrating the 4th with a family BBQ in New Jersey.

If you would like to share your summer photos and adventures, please email Mary.chapman@gladney.org.

Summer Days

Tessa (age 3) and Emma (age 10) are spending their summer in Chicago swimming, playing at the park, taking dance classes and eating lots of ice cream!

If you have summer photos you would like to share, please email them to Mary.chapman@gladney.org.

Madeleine - One Year Later

7/15/2011 Houston, TX: “One year ago today we were called by Gladney with the great news of our referral! Here are our referral pictures, along with a picture taken of Madeleine today.”

MOCA Dragon Boat Festival Family Day - NYC

We wanted to let all of our China families know about this fun, family event happening next weekend!

WHAT: Dragon Boat Festival Family Day

WHEN: Sunday, July 31st - 10:00am - 5:00pm

WHERE: Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., New York, NY 10013

The day-long festival includes:

• Performance and Storytelling with Mingmei Yip
• Poetry Workshop with Janet Wong
• Family Friendly Tours
• Drop in Arts and Crafts

Visit MOCA's website for more details! Admission is $10 or free for MOCA Members and children aged 1 yr or under.

Waiting Child Webinar

Will you be joining us for our next Waiting Child Webinar that will be held this Wednesday, July 13th at 1pm EST?

Each month Gladney hosts an Asia Waiting Child Webinar. This informative webinar will focus on the process of adopting a waiting child from China. The webinar will provide an overview of Gladney's program as well as share photos of available children. You will get a detailed explanation of the Application and paperwork process involved with adopting internationally. Also, each month we will feature different children, with a variety of ages and special needs, who are available for adoption. At the end of each webinar we offer time for attendees to ask questions and will provide contact information for you to follow up with one of Gladney's Asia Program Staff.

Be sure to register today!

4th of July Fun!

We hope everyone had a festive and fun 4th of July weekend!

Kathryn and Sarah spent the 4th of July with their family, including Mom, Dad, big brother James and their Grandparents, picnicking in Manhattan!

Whitney spent the holiday sailing with her family!

How did your family spend the 4th of July weekend? If you would to share your July 4th photos, please email them to Mary.chapman@gladney.org.

Summer Has Arrived!

Happy 4th of July!

All Gladney families are gearing up for a busy summer season! This year Grace, who came home in the spring of 2010, will be spending her second 4th of July with her family in NY. Last year, she celebrated her first Independence Day with her mom and dad at the beach.

What are your family's plans for the summer? Will you visit the beach like Grace? Will you spend time with special friends?

Will you have a lobster feast?

We would love to hear all about your summer adventures! Please send your summer stories and photos to mary.chapman@gladney.org. We will post the stories and photos throughout the summer - we can't wait to see what all of our Gladney families are up to!

Call for Stories and Pictures by the CCCWA (formerly known as CCAA)

TO ALL ADOPTIVE FAMILIES FROM CHINA

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS JUNE 20, 2011

On the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the founding of China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) in Beijing, China, there will be a series of activities to celebrate adoption. As part of the celebratory activities the CCCWA would like to introduce inter-country adoption to even more people throughout China, as well as internationally. It is the hope of the CCCWA to educate as many people as possible that it is in the best interests of the orphaned children to be raised within a loving family.

The CCCWA has asked Gladney and other US adoption agencies to reach out to their adoptive families for stories that highlight the opportunities, reflections, achievements and accomplishments of the children. Each story should be accompanied by 5-6 photos of the adopted child at different stages of their growth.

Gladney would like to collect these stories over the next few days (deadline Monday, June 20, 2011) so that we can forward them to CCCWA in time for the beginning of their celebrations later this month.

Thank you for participating in honoring CCCWA on its 15th anniversary!

PLEASE EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO: mary.chapman@gladney.org

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAIL SUBMISSIONS, PLEASE SEND THEM TO:

Gladney Center for Adoption

363 Seventh Ave., 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10001

Please send questions to mary.chapman@gladney.org.

China Monthly Update - June 2011

Referral and Program Update:

The CCCWA has issued referrals through 6/30/06 and dossiers have been reviewed through 11/30/10.

We have 1 family with an LID of 6/28/06 who received their referral in the most recent batch! Congratulations to this family!

We currently have 1 family in China adopting their daughter and 2 more families will be traveling later this month to complete their adoptions. The children will be returning to the states of Texas, Tennessee and New York in time to enjoy the hot summer months ahead - with plenty of pool and sprinkler time!

Gladney Staff Trip to Asia:

Two Gladney staff spent time in China and Taiwan during May and the early part of June. Gongzhan Wu, Gladney's VP and Managing Director, had the chance to meet with government officials and orphanages in the provinces of Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha. The Standard Child program continues to remain stable, although the lengthy wait times are expected to remain. The CCCWA continues to focus their efforts on finding homes for Waiting Children who are healthy and older or who have medical conditions.

Gongzhan and Lindsay also had the opportunity to visit a regional foster care station in the Shanghai district and meet some of the children currently living in foster families in China. These regional stations act as a hub to provide services to families who are providing care for the children in areas that are distant from the orphanage.

This little girl smiled ear to ear (as did her foster family) when we looked through the photos sent by her prospective adoptive family! She will be adopted through Gladney's Waiting Child partnership with the Shanghai Children's Home.

Lindsay will join this week's Waiting Child webinar on Wednesday at 1pm EST and talk about her recent trip and some of the waiting children she had a chance to meet. You can register for the webinar HERE. We are also planning to record the webinar and will make it available on Gladney's Asia Waiting Child Website.

Dragon Boat Festival - June 6, 2011:

The Dragon Boat Festival is an important festival in China that is now recognized as a national holiday. It falls on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Lunar Calendar - which was June 6th this year. There are several different myths as to how the festival came to be, including the story of Qu Yuan, one of the first great Chinese poets who drowned on the 5th day of the 5th month. Festivities usually include eating rice dumplings called "zongzi", drinking realgar wine and racing dragon boats! Health and wellness are also heavily promoted during the festival and many will follow traditional methods of warding off disease - such as wearing a perfumed medicine bag.

To the ancient Chinese, dragons were thought to be benevolent spirits who controlled the rain and water. Racing dragon boats originated to simulate a dragon fight in the heavens in order to appease the dragon deity - which in turn would bring rain to make the crops flourish. Dragon boats are long, wooden boats that require teams of rowers to propel them through the water. A drummer sits at the front of the boat to help keep time for the rowers.

China Monthly Update - May 2011

Referral and Program Update:
The CCCWA has issued referrals through 6/20/06 and Dossiers have been reviewed through 9/30/10.

Last week we had 2 families in our Waiting Child Program receive their Letter Seeking Confirmation. Congratulations to those families! Our next LID for our standard program is 6/28/06. We have 6 families with referrals who are waiting for their Travel Approvals to be issued. Once each family's Travel Approval is issued they will begin working with Gladney toward their individual travel plans for a 2 week stay in China. Some of the families may be able to join up for the final week in Guangzhou, depending on when Travel Approvals are all received!

Gongzhan Wu, VP and Managing Director, is currently in Asia and is planning to visit the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. He will also be visiting Taiwan. Later this month our Asia program caseworker and Taiwan program coordinator, Lindsay Hatcher, will join Gongzhan to visit orphanages and local adoption officials in both China and Taiwan.

Have you considered adopting a boy?



Most (but not all!) children adopted through the "standard" China program are little girls - but did you know that there are many little boys with mild to moderate special needs available for adoption from China? On the shared database there are currently 1110 profiles of boys (as compared to 416 girl profiles).

Love Without Boundaries has compiled a brief video that captures the joy of little boys - and reminds us that these little guys need to grow up in homes with Moms and Dads to hug and chase them! Boys available for adoption are all ages! 1-3 years old; 4-7 years old; and 8+. If you can imagine these little guys growing up through these stages and want to be a home and family for a waiting child who happens to be a boy - please let us know!

To review and consider adoption profiles of boys available through Gladney's Waiting Child Program (shared database as well as designated profiles), please let your caseworker know! Our next Waiting Child Webinar on May 11th at 1pm EST will highlight boys available for adoption. Be sure to register today!

China Program - News for this Week

China Waiting Child Program:



Today we have just posted three new children available for adoption to our photolist page on our Asia Waiting Child blog! The children are all in the Shanghai Children's Home. If you have not yet visited our photolist page and are in need of the password, please email mary.chapman@gladney.org.

Taiwan Infant/Toddler Program:
Gladney Center's program with New Hope Social Welfare Foundation in Taiwan offers parents the opportunity to adopt a Chinese child who is healthy or who may have minor medical needs. To learn about program requirements click here.

Gladney Center will be hosting a webinar on May 2nd at 7:30pm EST and again on May 11th at 2pm EST to provide an overview of the process of adopting a baby through our New Hope program. Click here to register for the May 2nd webinar and click here to register for the May 11th webinar.

Some families have asked whether they can enter the New Hope Taiwan program while keeping their dossier in the China program. For some families, especially families in the 'standard' China program who have extended waits to be matched, this is a possibility that can be discussed based on a family's individual circumstances.

March 2011 CCCWA Guidelines:
If you are in Gladney Center's China program, your caseworker will be in contact with you within the next 1-2 weeks to go over some of the changes the CCCWA has made to the post-adoption reporting requirements.

There have also been some changes made to the home study process that will apply to certain families who will be filing their dossiers beginning this fall. If your dossier has already been filed with the CCCWA, the home study changes do not affect your adoption. Your caseworker will also be able to answer any other questions you may have about the program.

Looking for Asia Adoption Options?

We have exciting news in our Taiwan program –Gladney’s infant/toddler program is moving forward and accepting 20 families as we have begun a partnership with New Hope Social Welfare Foundation, a newly licensed foundation in Taiwan. This is an opportunity for families hoping to adopt infants and toddlers from an Asian country! Due to the long wait with other international adoption programs, dual tracking may be considered on a case by case basis.

Gladney estimates an approximate 8-14 month wait from home study completion/translation to child referral with the Taiwan New Hope program. Time frames are estimates as the program is a birth parent selection program. After referral it will take an additional 8 months to complete the Taiwan court process and then families will travel to Taiwan to met their child and complete the U.S. immigration processing.

Interested in learning more? Visit Gladney’s website at http://www.gladney.org/ for program details and adoptive parent requirements. Families who request an online information packet and complete an information sheet will receive a follow up email or phone call by a Gladney staff member.

In the NYC area? Gladney’s NYC Office will be hosting two information sessions- on Wednesday, April 20th from 12 to 1 pm and Thursday, April 28th from 6 to 7 pm. Interested families should RSVP with lindsay.hatcher@gladney.org.

NY Families- Interested in Learning More About Taiwan Adoption?

Gladney is currently accepting approximately 20 applications for our Taiwan infant/toddler adoption program. Based on family situation and program requirements, prospective adoptive parents may have the option to dual track with a China and Taiwan adoption program. Gladney's New York office will hold two one-hour information sessions for families to learn more about the program. When: Wednesday, April 20th from 12 to 1 pm or Thursday, April 28th from 6 to 7 pm Where: Gladney NYC Office 363 7th Avenue (between 30th and 31st Street) 3rd Floor NY, NY 10001 Space is limited. Please RSVP to lindsay.hatcher@gladney.org. **For further program details and requirements, please visit our website at www.gladney.org.

Spring Comes To Brooklyn

Kathryn and Sarah are enjoying gymnastics, chess tournaments, and a "playground inquiry" unit in social studies this spring. Please send pictures of your child enjoying spring to sbrueckel@gmail.com.

Happy Spring, everyone! You can also send pictures of your celebration of the upcoming spring holidays!

Adoption & Family Conference - This Weekend!

Gladney Center will be an exhibitor at the Ametz Adoption Conference this weekend. During the long wait in the standard China Program - if any families are interested in learning about our Taiwan Program - our lead Taiwan caseworker will be at this conference. Taiwan offers families interested in adopting from Asia the opportunity to adopt children of all ages, including babies and toddlers. We would like to welcome an additional 20 families into our baby/toddler program and have openings for families to apply at this time. It is possible to pursue an adoption from Taiwan while waiting for referral in the China Program. We monitor progress so that there is at least one year between adoptive placements. Adoption and the Family Conference Sunday, April 10, 9am-5pm The Conference Center 130 East 59th Street, NYC For more information go to: http://www.jccany.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=106241

April 5, 2011 -- The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is a Combination of Sadness & Happiness

The Qingming Festival is the most important day of sacrifice. It is a time to honor ancestors who have passed away. On each Qingming Festival, cemeteries are crowded with family members who come to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy the hope of Spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. People love to fly kites during the Qingming Festival and during this festival people fly kites not only during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns".