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.
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