Happy Fourth of July weekend and many congratulations to new American citizens! We would love to share your red, white and blue family photos from your holiday. To submit, email your pictures to Communications@ChildrensHope.net.
Joint Council has gathered some of the most renowned adoption experts to present adoption related topics in a webinar education series. Registration starts TODAY for prospective adoptive families, adoptive families, and adoptees.
When & Where
Webinars will occur on the first Tuesday and the first Thursday of each month at 7 PM EST and participants will gain access through submitting a nominal fee of $10 per webinar. Joint Council is excited and privileged to offer this unique opportunity to hear directly from adoption experts and to pose questions to these experienced professionals. For detailed information, including the webinar schedule click here.
Register Today!
Adoptive Parent Webinars registration begins today and will continue throughout 2009. To register now, click here!
2009 Adoptive Family Webinars Schedule
Tuesday, July 2nd
Eastern European Orphanages
presented by Todd Ochs
Thursday, July 7th
Developing Cultural Competence in Adopted Children
presented by Patricia Irwin Johnston
Tuesday, August 4th
TBA
Thursday, August 6th
Journey to Me
presented by Heather Forbes
Tuesday, September 1st
Medical Special Needs Children
presented by Todd Ochs
Thursday, September 3rd
Understanding and Managing Loss in Adoption
presented by Dr. David Brodzinsky
The Ethiopia Program is happy to announce that Children's Hope has placed a sibling set on our Waiting Children list last week and today we were honored to give two referrals to two families, a sibling set of a 3-month-old boy and 4-year-old girl, and an infant boy. The families are thrilled!
In this spring edition of the Children’s Hope E-news:
Choosing to Love - Adopting a child of toddler age or beyond takes creative parenting and lots of love. Experienced parents, Todd and Gretchen adopted their adorable six-year-old daughter Selah from Ethiopia in January of this year. For Gretchen, their bonding is about choices.
A Vision of Their Future: Adopting a Child with Visual Impairment - A mother to three children with visual impairment, adoptive parent Velleta Scott is an expert in training in ophthalmic disorders and parenting the once unknown. When Velleta adopted her first child, she had questions. Now she has answers.
Read these stories and program updates from each of Children's Hope's countries by clicking here.
Have something to share with fellow Children's Hope families for next month's e-news? Email communications@childrenshope.net with your recent photos and story ideas. Thank you for sharing!
Andrea Napa is the author of the new adoption-themed children's book, Red in the Flower Bed. Andrea is the mother of an adopted Vietnamese daughter named Leah. She is a registered dietitian at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Red in the Flower Bed is for recommended for readers ages 6-8. This interview was conducted over email in June 2009. Thank you for sharing, Andrea!
1. When and why did you begin writing Red in the Flower Bed?
When my daughter was 4 months old we brought her home from Vietnam. She understood from an early age that she was adopted, and sometimes would cry that she missed her birth mother. She would also ask questions that we didn't have the answer to, as we were not given any info. as to who her birth parents were or why she was given up. Her saddness and my inability to answer her questions was inspiration for writing this story. I started writing it when she was about 3 or 4, and from time to time I would work on it. The story just wouldn't leave me. Then just when she turned 5 years old she was diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma, a rare form of childhood bone cancer. (After major surgery and 8 months of chemotherapy she has now been in remission for 2 years). The concept of the seed's journey took on even more significance, as it seemed that she had already journeyed very far (both literally and figuratively) for a little girl. She was taken from her birth place half way around the world as an infant and then fought cancer a few years later. Furthermore, I couldn't help wondering if she had "landed" in the right place, as we live only 20 minutes away from the best children's hospital in the country, if not the world. I also happened to work there. It seemed more than coincidence that she ended up with us.
2. In Red in the Flower Bed, the poppy seed flower is beautiful but does not look like the other flowers in the family garden. Although it is not mentioned in the text directly, this story is an illustration of interracial adoption. How old is your daughter now and how does she react when you read your book to her?
I deliberately did not use the word adoption in the story so that the reader can interpret the book in their own way at their own pace according to their age level. My daughter is now 7 1/2 years old. She loves the idea that I wrote a book and asked me to read it to her second grade class and is hoping that I will end up on TV! Her favorite page is the last page with the rainbow. I think she interprets this to mean that she is wanted and needed in our family, even though she does not look like us and is not a birth child like most of her friends. She also seems to 
be comforted by the mother poppy being sad, as it helps her feel that she wasn't just thrown away by her birth mother. Also, I made the seed turn into a red poppy flower like its birth flower, since when my daughter asks what her birth mom looks like I can say with some confidence "she looks like you", which she loves to hear. She is proud of her Vietnamese background and always answers that she is from Vietnam whenever someone asks where she is from (even if they just mean what state). I hope that she will never feel ashamed of looking different from her family or classmates. In this story the seed retains its identity no matter where it lands since its heritage can't be ignored or denied. Note that the garden flowers accepted the seed for who she was even before they knew what kind of flower she would be. The seed blossomed into her full potential because she was given the care and love she needed.
3. What are some good questions / statements an adopting parent might add to this story to further relate to their child?
Questions to prompt the child to think about the story could include: Why do you think this story is called Red in the Flower Bed? Even though the poppy did not look like the other flowers in the garden, was she still part of its family? Who did she look like? What did the seed need to grow in the garden? Do all flowers need this? How was the garden changed by the poppy flower?
4. Can you explain the choices made in the illustration technique?
My main goal was to attract the attention of young children with colorful, eye-pleasing pictures. In children's books it's important for the pictures to bring the words to life. I was inspired by the art techniques of Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert, two of my favorite children's book illustrators. One adult reader commented that the collage style using different prints makes that point that "we are all one and can come together to form a single family".
5. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
I think that it's important to accept your child unconditionally for who they are, and to acknowledge your child's place of birth and heritage. It will always be a part of them. It is also important to respect your child's desire to know their background. It is their right to know. Allow them to talk about it and ask questions, even if you don't know the answer. Be honest.
As a single mom, what does the first year of life as a family look like? In January 2008, Jill had the opportunity to discover the answer firsthand with Mari, born in Ethiopia.
“Mari and I met on January 2nd, 2008 - a great start to the new year," says Jill. It was a year of firsts together. Month by month, she documented her experience on video and shares it with you.
View it here, Jill's Expedition to Ethiopia
Parents Beth and Charles traveled to Colombia to adopt a brother and sister in May 2008, creating a family of four siblings. Their story is one of a couple's love for children, a stranger's heart and compassion, and four unique kids all aware of sibling love.
"Our community has completely embraced our mulitcultural family," says Beth. "From the beginning our family and friends from our community have offered such support and love that all we can do is thank God for allowing us to be used to promote adoption and His love."
The Hollis Family shared their story with their local paper. Read more about their family's creation by clicking here.
From Guest Blogger, Kathleen Carscadden
Children’s Day – what day ISN’T Children’s Day? That was my first thought when reading about this “lesser” holiday. But the more I thought about it, the more I truly have come to appreciate this day.
International Children’s Day is celebrated in many countries and usually, but not always, on June 1. The reason that the first day of June was chosen to celebrate children is unclear but the story I like the most is that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the International Children’s Day conference in Geneva.
I suppose since my daughter is Chinese the story of the date being set, including Chinese orphans, touches my heart.
Traditionally (in China) children do attend school but there are no classes that day. Instead they take time to honor students with notable achievements and participate in parent-child activities and games. It is a festive, child centered day. Other countries have other traditions but the common thread is a child centered day of fun and parental bonding time.
Now, I don’t think we are going to get our schools to suspend classes for a day but we can celebrate Children’s Day all the same. My daughter beams with pride when we have lunch with her at school, and showing us her work in the classroom is equally delightful. Maybe you could arrange to bring your child his/her favorite meal for lunch on Monday. Take cookies to the classroom to share with all the children (do this at the end of the school day as to not cause a big disruption) or plan a special after school activity. We will be having lunch with Miss Jess and taking her bowling after school. She typically has homework on school days, but I have arranged for Monday’s homework to be a day late. These are small things for sure, but are all special to Jessica. What is special to your child? Could you work it in on Monday?
If your school has already recessed for summer, all the better – a picnic in the park with your child’s favorite foods – ok in our case that would mean a picnic of marshmallows and bacon – but how great would your child feel when presented with ONLY their favorites?
Maybe it’s too late to do much this year – but that’s what is great about this “lesser” holiday, not much is required to make your child feel like a star for the day and strengthen your relationship.
And as always if you’d like to see what Jessica did for Children’s Day feel free to visit our family blog at www.freewebs.com/jessieshome
From Guest Blogger, Kathleen Carscadden
We all understand that Chinese adoptions are moving along at – well – a snail’s pace. The long wait time has spurred an interest in China’s Waiting Children/Special Needs program. This is GREAT news for those children who need homes now.
Unlike traditional referrals from China, with the Waiting Children program prospective adoptive parents get to see a picture and a little information as to the child's needs before ever applying to see the file. Wow, that's great isn’t it? You get to see and oftentimes fall in love with “your” child very early in the process. If you have spent any time observing the Waiting Children process you will notice a trend…the pretty kids find homes first. The children that are considered “cute”, no matter how great their special need is, tend to have multiple families ask to review their files or, as is the case with Multiple Agency lists, those files are locked immediately. But what about those that don’t have the cute picture?
Take a look at this picture. This little one was number 20717 on the March 2007 Waiting Child list. The special needs were a repaired cleft lip/cleft palate and the fact that this child was considered “old” by adoption standards at nearly 4 ½.
Is this child a girl or a boy? We are used to seeing boys dressed in pink and “girly” clothes because in an orphanage you wear what they have. But this child? Nothing pink or girly at all.
The March 2007 list was chock full of adorable pictures of little girls and boys. Some of those cute pictures had dozens of people ask to review their files. The way it worked back then was a lottery system – you submitted an application for a child and an applicant was randomly picked to review the file, the pictures were updated with the number of people who had applied to review their file. The phone calls were made and the internet was abuzz with news about who was picked.
Back to #20717. The number of people who had applied to review the file? Zero. Why? The special need was relatively minor. Well, as it turns out that number, zero, was a mistake. One family had applied for this child. Mine. My husband saw something in those eyes, a spark, a hope, a smile that wasn’t on her face.
#20717 is my very own Miss Jessica HuaLiang. You can’t tell by the photo that she is in fact a she. What you can’t tell by the photo is that she has the bubbliest personality; she has a wickedly funny sense of humor. You can’t tell that she is amazingly smart; she has only been home a year and a half and speaks nearly perfect English. She is loving and affectionate. She has her father wrapped around her little finger. She is healthy and well bonded. What you can’t see in that first mug shot is the amazingly delightful little girl she has blossomed into.
Next time you are reviewing the Waiting Children/Special Needs list I want to encourage you to look past the pictures and into your heart, to see the bigger picture. Are you truly only open to a girl? Maybe your daughter is a SON. Maybe your infant is a toddler, or a 4-year-old…maybe he or she is 9? Maybe older.
Look past the picture and see instead the possibility…
Pictured: Six-year-old Jessica loves her hair long. Here, she stands in front of the scroll given to her by her Chinese foster family.
Welcome to Children's Hope International's Guest Bloggers! This is a new family feature to the Children's Hope blog. Beyond sharing a one-time story, CHI Guest Bloggers will be returning to write on varied topics - from cultural events, timely news, and best of all, their personal experience.
We will be introducing several CHI Guest Bloggers in the coming weeks. Help welcome these writers by leaving a comment on their articles. Thank you! If you would like to suggest a topic for their blog posts, email Communications@ChildrensHope.net. 
Introducing Kathleen
Kathleen Carscadden is an adoptive mother. She's also an advocate for Special Needs adoption.
She and her husband Bob adopted Jessica from CHI's China Waiting Child Program in October 2007. Welcome Kathleen!
Dear Families,
The referrals keep coming! Today we are pleased to have referred a 4-year-old little girl, a 7-week-old baby boy and one of the sibling sets that were viewble on the Ethiopia Waiting Children’s website. The sisters are 4 and 7 years old. The families waited 6 ½ months, 10 months and 6 weeks, respectively to be matched. Congratulations to all of the families, and the children.
Blessings,
The Ethiopia Team
The Carley Family is home with their son! View pictures from their return home on their May 6th entry of their personal blog, Love is Spoken Here. We'll be sharing more of this family's experience in the upcoming Children's Hope E-news. Thank you for sharing Carleys! Welcome home!
The Frick family also wanted to share how they are doing. View their blog, "Got Injera?" Do you see a family resemblance? They have been home close to 16 months with their daughter!
The Children's Hope Colombia Team is excited to announce that the Colombia program has given four referrals this week: two siblings, a boy, 2 1/2, and a girl, 5 1/2; and 2 baby boys, both around 1-year-old! All three families should be able to travel next month.
In addition, families have accepted their referrals this week for a sibling group of 4: ages 11 and under, and a young girl, age 7.
ALSO our Colombia Team was able to meet a beautiful 16-month-old from Colombia and her elated parents at the St. Louis airport this morning!
Traveling: In additional Colombia Program news, a family is returning to the US tomorrow after completing the adoption of siblings, 11-year-old sister and 8-year-old brother. A Colombia Program family leaves tomorrow for a 1-year-old boy and we have one family in country for a 10-year-old girl.
Congratulations to all of these families as they transition!
