Stephanie Crouch has added more children to the online listing!  There are MANY beautiful little baby boys waiting! Please log-in with your family’s password to view the list.  If you would like more information about any of the children listed, please complete the inquiry form below the listings.

Thank you!

There were two sets of twin girls added to the shared list last night!

Molly and Maiya are 4.5 years old.  Both girls have significant vision impairments and have some delays.  Molly loves to be closer to her caretakers and continually tells them how much she loves them.  Maiya is talkative, loves to sing songs and has good memorization skills.

Jade and Ruby are 6 years old.  Both girls show some developmental delays in terms of fine motor skills, social skills and language.  Jade is said to love to learn and study even though it is difficult for her.  Ruby is slightly more advanced and loves to play with others.

If you are interested in learning about these sisters, please contact Stephanie Crouch at 512.323.9595 x 3053 or stephanie@gwca.org.

Being in our late 40’s with three children, we thought our family was complete.  But, during our journey to our daughters from China, we’d met many people along the way who had adopted children through the Waiting Child program.  We thought, “if” we adopted again, we would also take that path.  “If” became “when” and in the fall of 2004, we started watching waiting child listings, looking for someone that seemed right for our family.  On Christmas Eve of that year, we looked at the waiting child listings from GWCA, and there was the most precious little boy looking back at us.  We knew immediately that he was our son.  We researched albinism and felt that it was a very manageable need.  In fact, we had helped to sponsor a child in foster care with albinism.  We began our paperwork right away and brought him home 8 months later.

Matthew was 33 months old when he came home.  He was quite delayed and not yet talking, and he could throw a temper tantrum like no other.  But he understood us very quickly, he was curious about everything, he learned very quickly; we knew he would be okay.  We had him evaluated through early intervention, and got him started in preschool as soon as he turned 3.  Watching his transformation was nothing short of amazing.  In less than a year, he was on target for language and overall development.  And he learned to love and be part of a family. 

What about his albinism?  Well, Matthew IS legally blind.  His corrected distance vision is about 20/400.  He gets very close to things to see them.  He is learning to read in both Braille and print.  We sunscreen him when he goes outside just as we do all of our children.  He sees his ophthalmologist once a year.  He also ice skates, swims, canoes, runs fast, climbs adeptly to the top of any play structure, and slides down the fire poles.  He loves to play with Legos and other building toys, and is a good artist.  Most casual observers do not know that he has any vision issues.  He is in first grade this year and doing well in school.  He also has a great smile, and is a very loving and sweet boy. 

We’ve learned much about vision impairment since we adopted Matthew, and now know that with proper education and the right tools, vision impairment is nothing more than an inconvenience.  In fact, we went on to adopt another visually impaired boy in 2007.

Greetings everyone,

The May 2010 Edition of our Angels of Hope Newsletter is now available online at:

http://www.gwca.org/files/wc_newsletter/may-2010

Enjoy and happy reading!

Sincerely,

Great Wall China Adoption

In the Fall of 2008 my husband and I travelled to China to adopt our first child, Allison. She was four-years-old at the time. When we visited her orphanage a few days after her adoption the staff told us that she had a best friend, Rainbow, and that the girls were very, very close. The staff showed us Rainbow’s Half the Sky Memory Book so that we could see pictures of her. We asked if we could meet Rainbow as we knew our daughter would want to see her and say good-bye. Plus, we hoped to take pictures of the girls together. We were told by the Social Welfare Institute staff, though, that Rainbow was at her foster home. We were puzzled by that since our daughter, Allison, had lived at the orphanage her entire life.

While we were still in China we had two disposable cameras developed that we had sent to the SWI staff in care packages to our daughter. They had been kind enough to take pictures of Allison with her friends from her HTS preschool class. In almost every picture Allison and Rainbow were together. In one they even had their arms around each other hugging. When Allison saw the photos in our hotel room in China she would point to the pictures of Rainbow and tell us her name over and over. When we looked closely at the pictures we realized Rainbow had cleft hands and feet.

When we returned home from China I contacted our adoption agency, Great Wall China Adoption, to see what we could do to help Rainbow. They checked the shared list at the time and didn’t see her listed. I sent them all the information I had on her including the pictures of her from the disposable cameras. Fortunately, I knew her full name and her general age. Plus, I had pictures of her. They were so kind and agreed to keep an eye out for her. In the meantime, I sent an email to every email address I could find on the Half the Sky website. Since the girls were from a HTS orphanage I thought they might be able to help me.

Half the Sky is the most incredible organization. For those of you who are unfamiliar with them, they are a non-profit organization started ten years ago by adoptive families with children from China. They do all sorts of wonderful things to help orphans in China. Anyway, I got an email back from someone at HTS explaining to me that Rainbow had been placed with a foster family in the HTS Family Village Program. Foster parents in the Family Village Program receive a stipend from HTS and in return they agree to foster up to six children with rather significant special needs until the children reach adulthood. It is a permanent foster program for children that the SWI feels won’t be adopted. At that time HTS told me that Rainbow was in a good situation with a loving foster family who she would live with throughout her childhood. However, we still worried about Rainbow’s long term future in China. What would her future hold in China with her special needs and orphan status.

By the time I had figured all of this out, we had been home from China with Allison for four or five months. However, not a day had gone by that she hadn’t mentioned her friend, Rainbow, back in China. In fact, Rainbow was the only person in China Allison ever talked about. We were starting to feel a real connection to this little girl. We were very lucky to become sponsors of Rainbow’s foster family through HTS. With sponsorship we knew we were helping Rainbow, albeit in a small way. More importantly, though, we knew we would receive photos and updates about Rainbow and her foster siblings twice a year. When the first pictures arrived Allison was thrilled, and we were pleased to see Rainbow smiling and having fun with her foster family. Even though Rainbow had a foster family that loved her, we were still concerned about her future in China. The combination of her orphan status and her special need could make life in China very difficult for her.

Fast Forward about a year. . . in February of this year I sent Rainbow’s foster family a package for Chinese New Year. I received a very nice email from a staff worker at the Social Welfare Institute thanking me for the package. In the email she told me that paperwork had been submitted for Rainbow to be adopted internationally. I was so surprised since I had been told she was living in a permanent foster situation. Anyway, my husband and I were thrilled. Despite the fact that Rainbow lives with a loving foster family, we worry what her future will be like in China with her special need, cleft hands and feet.

Stephanie, the Waiting Child goddess at Great Wall China Adoption, has been watching for Rainbow to show up on the shared list ever since I received that email from the SWI. Finally, last week Rainbow was there. My husband and I feel strongly that she will be an incredible blessing to a family and are doing everything possible to increase her exposure in hopes of finding the family she is meant to join.  If you think you might be her family please contact me or Stephanie at GWCA. Even if you aren’t a Great Wall family she will be more than happy to help you.

Rainbow’s Blog: http://www.abestfriendswish.blogspot.com/

The CCAA has announced they will be adding children to the shared agency list on 4/21.  Great Wall’s Waiting Child Team will be up all night watching the list and looking for potential matches between children and families.  If there is a child who may be a good match for your family, Stephanie will let you know!  Also, please remember for the first month the children are on the shared list, only families with a current log-in date can be considered.

All children currently on the list have been posted for more than one month.  As of today, families without a current log-in date can be considered.  Families must be able to complete their dossier within three months. 

Effective immediately: The CCAA has now asked that all families have a current, completed home study before being considered for a Waiting Child.

For families who were in the beginning stages of the paperwork process, the CCAA previously allowed us to enter a future date for home study completion.  If a family was unable to meet the three month deadline for dossier submission, we were able to easily request an extension to this deadline, which was readily approved.  We are no longer able to do this. Families who are in the dossier process must have a completed home study before they can move forward with a Waiting Child.  Once a home study is completed, a family’s dossier can be completed well within the three month window.  This should eliminate the need to request for extensions, as well as the time a child has to wait for their family to bring them home.  If you are not currently a Great Wall family but have a completed home study, please submit this information to GWCA for our records.

For families who are already logged-in, Stephanie will be monitoring this by checking for your immigration approval.  If you have a current approval, Stephanie will know you have a current home study. If you are in the process of renewing your immigration paperwork, she will be able to check for this as well.  If you have allowed your immigration paperwork to expire and hope to be matched with a Waiting Child, it is recommended you begin the update process as soon as possible.

We are excited to announce that our annual adoption conference will be held Saturday, September 25 – Sunday, September 26 in San Antonio, TX at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk Hotel.  Previously known as the “East Meets West” conference, this annual conference was renamed to “Beyond Borders” in order to better reflect the adoption and humanitarian aid needs of the more than 140 million orphans worldwide. This year’s conference will place special emphasis on Waiting Child Programs which focus on older and special needs children waiting to be adopted.  We look forward to seeing you there!

To reserve your space, register today at: http://www.emwconference.org

The Beyond Borders Conference is open to anyone, regardless of what international adoption agency you have used or plan to use.  It is ideal for adoptive parents in any stage of the international adoption process from be pre-approval or post adoption.  For more information about the sessions offered please visit https://www.emwconference.org.

Our esteemed keynote speakers include:

Dr. Jane Aronson, an adoptive parent of two children and a pediatrician specializing in adoption medicine. Dr. Aronson has traveled to orphanages in Haiti, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Latin America while on medical missions, and she has provided direct services to orphaned children through her Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO).

Dr. Elizabeth Bartholet, an expert on civil rights and family law and is currently the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She has served as staff counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and founded the Legal Action Center, a public interest firm in New York City focused on criminal justice and substance abuse issues.

Beyond Borders is the only conference of its kind bringing together adoption leaders and families from all over the United States and world. This conference will aim to inspire, educate and generate awareness for international adoption advocates so that we can all continue impacting positive change in the adoption industry. Bonded through our passion of helping children, together we can continue making a difference worldwide for orphans in need of families.

Attendee benefits:

• Exposure to THE experts on international adoption (medical, legal, foreign government officials, social workers, community leaders, adoption agency workers, etc.)
• Interaction with other families in various stages of the adoption process
• Resolve questions about adoption vs. child birth
• Face-to-face contact with foreign delegates
• Meet orphanage representatives who give their personal accounts of life in an orphanage
• Make professional contacts in the field of adoption
• Learn about adoption policy for many countries around the world
• Get in-depth knowledge of adoption and cultures
• Receive a $50 discount off your Great Wall China Adoption / Children of All Nations application fee
• Satisfy 10 hours of HAGUE training

There are several children on the Waiting Child list who will soon lose their opportunity to be adopted.  In China, on a child’s 14th birthday, he or she is no longer considered eligible for adoption.  For these children, the future is uncertain.  Our waiting child team would like to take the time to share with you their information in the hopes their forever family is out there.  Please log-in to the password protected site and consider whether you may be the perfect fit for one of these children.  If you are interested in learning more, please submit the inquiry form that is located below the listing.

Sean is turning 14 on May 23rd.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next month.  He is active and restless. He likes to think and loves to study. He is interested in new things and participates in activities such as leaning the table and mopping the floor. He interacts with others and is friendly. He is polite to teachers and classmates. He writes letters to teachers and nannies proactively to talk about what he is thinking about. He is good at caring for himself and can wash clothes and dishes independently. He does well in school and can finish homework independently. He is good at drawing and can communicate with others via sign language. He is active and cute and is longing for a home.  He is listed as number 394 with further information.

Jocelyn will turn 14 on May 31st.  She will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next month and a half. She is active, fairly pretty, and likes reading cartoon books and biographies.  She likes drawing pictures and playing badminton. She gets along very well with classmates, and likes chatting with them. At present she is closest to her teachers and classmates.  She is listed as number 395.

Tyler will turn 14 on June 1st.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next month and a half.  He is hard-working, will ask when there is something he can not understand, and likes to help others. He can take care of the younger children, and he is the big brother. He will take part in the group activity to win the prize and honor for the group. Even though he enjoys his life, he wants to go back to the family to share the love of parents.  In October, 2009 the institution applied for him to be adopted by foreigners. The teachers communicated with him before submitting his paperwork, and he was happy to hear this news. He has seen photos of children after they are home with the families, and that they live a happy life.  For that, he admires them.  Not long ago, one child who had gone home with his parents came back to our institution to visit.  The little brother was in his mother’s arm, spoke fluent English, and was polite to the parents, brother and sister.  This let Tyler know that a complete family is happy. So he hopes that he will find a family through international adoption, and find his parents.  He is listed as number 393 with further information.

Wendall will turn 14 on June 1st.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next month and a half.  He is a nice, clever and cute child. He is good at learning and is ready to help others. He is polite to people and he offers to help younger children in the institute. His interests include chess and painting. He gets along well with fellow students and friends. His diet is similar as that of adults’. He has a good appetite and likes sea food.  He is listed as number 396 with further information.

Sherli will turn 14 on June 6th.  She will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next month and a half.   She respects her teachers and elders, likes to communicate with others, and can get along with other children.  She is not very active in study and her study is not very good. However, she is very smart and sensible, she could help other younger children to complete tiny things. She is good at management, is a helper of the teacher. Her personality is outgoing, bold, and ferocious. She likes to draw and clothes design.  She is listed as number 397 with further information.

Rochelle will turn 14 on June 10th.  She will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 2 months.  She can remember poems, read ballads, and communicate with strangers. She can read texts and teach other kids to sing baby songs and read poems. She is good in language expression, communication with adults, and expressing her feelings actively.  She is sometimes shy and is a clever, cute girl.  She is listed as number 398 with further information. 

Donnie will turn 14 on June 24th.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 2 1/2 months.  He is active, outgoing, has a ready smile and is very lovable. He likes outdoors and populous places such as parks, children’s amusement parks or to the street. He is very adaptive. He is listed as number 399 with further information. 

Sybil will turn 14 on June 30th.  She will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 2 ½  months.  She has a variety of interests, like riding bike, skating, playing ping-pong and badminton.  She also loves HELLO KITTY dolls.  She is an active, restless girl. She is listed as number 400 with further information. 

Shad will turn 14 on July 4th.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 3 months.  In his words: I listen to lessons seriously.  Teachers often praise me and say that I am bright and sensible. In the welfare institute I obey the aunts and uncles, can look after myself roughly in my life, can tidy up my bedding, wash clothes, meanwhile I can also help brothers and sisters younger than me. The aunts and uncles all like me a lot, say that I am bright, lovely and adorable.  He is listed as number 401 with further information.

Jude will turn 14 on July 13th.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 3 months.  He is a tough and sensible child.  Every morning he tidies up his own bed very well, and he gets along with other children well. He has familiar food with the adult’s, and he has good appetite. He likes painting and reading children’s books.  He is listed as number 402 with further information.

Fitz will turn 14 on July 14th.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 3 months.  He has an introverted personality, is not talkative, but shy and timid.  He gets along well with others and is obedient.  He likes to play together with kids of same age, can get along well with kids when playing, can share his own food and toys with kids.  He likes playing with all kinds of toys, like watching TV, and responds actively to stimulation of new things or strangers.  He is listed as number 403 with further information.

Heidi will turn 14 on July 16th.  She will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid I-600A approval, who can travel within the next 3 months.   She is helpful and likes to work. She listens to class attentively and answers questions actively. If she has question, she will keep asking until now she understands. She is praised often by the teacher. She is also in the class committee. She likes to draw, esp. the people and objects in daily life. She colors different pictures, sometimes beyond your expectation. She likes art class, music class and PE class.  She is listed as number 404 with further information. 

Mel will turn 14 on August 10th.  He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid immigration approval and can travel within the next 4 months.  He respects teachers, is united with other classmates, cares about the class and obeys teachers’ guidance. He is active in learning and is an initiative-oriented boy. He is smart and thinks nimbly and is never late in class. He can concentrate his attention on class and always asks questions actively. He is not afraid of expressing different opinions in class and is curious about learning new things. He likes expressing himself.  He is listed as number 405 with further information. 

Shola will turn 14 on August 17th. She will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid immigration approval and can travel within the next 4 months.  She is an outgoing and independent girl. She gets along well with others and adapts to new environment very soon. She would be shy at the first time to stranger, but soon become active. She shows her respect to teacher, and being polite to classmates, loves to sing and dance with peers, watching cartoons and enjoy herself. She is listed as number 406 with further information.   

Leon will be 14 on August 25th. He will need a family who is currently logged-in with a valid immigration approval and can travel within the next 4 months.  His physical and mental growth and development are similar to those of normal kids. Now he studies in a primary school with good living, studying and hygiene habits.

Greetings everyone,

The April 2010 Edition of our Angels of Hope Newsletter is now available online at:

http://www.gwca.org/files/wc_newsletter/april-2010

Enjoy and happy reading!

Sincerely,

Great Wall China Adoption

Stephanie has added more children to the shared list posting.  The children who are posted as “New” can only be considered by families who have a current log-in date.  Children who are posted as “available” are able to be considered by all families. 
You can log-in with your family’s personal password at http://www.gwca.org/node/251.

Please remember if you are interested in learning more about any of these children, you must submit the inquiry form located below the listings.  Email inquiries will not be accepted.  Thank you for your understanding!