Blog Posts

8 New Referrals for Great Wall Families!

On February 27, 2013 we received 8 referrals for families whose dossiers were logged in on October 16th and 19th, 2006.  This referral group included 7 girls and 1 boy whose ages ranged from 1 year to 3 years . Children in this referral group were from the Guangxi, Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces. Congratulations to these families!

If you are in the 10/26/2006 and 11/7/2006 LID group and have not been in contact with me please call or email me at 512-323-9595 ext. 3092 or email kristin@gwca.org ASAP to review your status.

USCIS Paperwork Information

Families have two options: you can apply for extensions of your paperwork with USCIS, or allow your paperwork to lapse and re-file with USCIS under the I-800A once closer to referral.  Keep in mind that we do recommend families interested in adopting a child through our Waiting Child Program keep their USCIS approval current.

Please remember you are NOT required to continue refilling for the I800A approval.

Per CCCWA guidelines, families are now required to work with a COA accredited or Hague accredited home study agency for post adoption reports, unless using the same home study agency that you worked with during your dossier phase.  If you have moved during the process and are working with a new home study agency other than the agency that assisted you during the dossier phase, your new agency must be COA accredited or Hague accredited for the purpose of your post adoption reports. If you are no longer working with your original home study agency please let us know so that we can confirm your current agency’s accreditation status. Remember GWCA must review and approve each home study and home study update before it is finalized.  Do not hesitate to contact us directly should you have questions about this process.

The LID Edge: Families with log in date have the EDGE!

The CCCWA adds new children to the Waiting Child shared list once a month. For the first month that a child is available for adoption, they can only be matched with a family that is logged-in. CCCWA allows families who already have a dossier logged in (like you) to adopt a child with a treatable or correctable condition. You would work directly with our staff to select, review and be matched with a child with minor health conditions. Only families with a LID can request these children. The Waiting Child team monitors the shared list for potential matches for our LID families. You are able to designate the gender, age range, and conditions you are open to. When families hear the term “special needs”, many may assume this means a child has a severe, life-long, life-altering medical or developmental condition. In the Waiting Child Program, we often see young children with needs which are correctable and easily manageable. LID families who are open to special needs such as cleft lip and palate, minor orthopedic issues, minor heart conditions, and others are currently being matched in just 1-6 months. Children with commonly accepted or “minor” conditions will generally be placed very quickly with a family who has a LID.

Our Waiting Child Team is offering a Waiting Child webinar which will go over special needs and include information about the LID Edge. Join us to learn more about the Waiting Child process for LID families, as well as some of the special needs we see most often.

China Waiting Child Webinar: Adopting a Child with Special Needs
Tue. Feb 12, 2013 11:00 am – 12:00 PM CST

To register for this webinar:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/251604273

If you are interested in the Waiting Child program help us get to know your family and what you are hoping for in an adoption! We encourage families who are interested to complete our Waiting Child Profile. This is a free, brief survey that doesn’t commit you to the waiting child program but will allow us to gain a better understanding of your adoption desires. To fill one out, please visit:   http://www.gwca.org/waiting-child-profile-init-2/
I hope that you will consider attending the webinar and then get back to us with any questions or concerns.

USCIS Paperwork Information

Please remember you are NOT required to continue refiling for the I800A approval.

Families have two options: you can apply for extensions of your paperwork with USCIS, or allow your paperwork to lapse and re-file with USCIS under the I-800A once closer to referral. Keep in mind that we do recommend families interested in adopting a child through our Waiting Child Program keep their USCIS approval current.

Per CCCWA guidelines, families are now required to work with a COA accredited or Hague accredited home study agency for post adoption reports, unless using the same home study agency that you worked with during your dossier phase. If you have moved during the process and are working with a new home study agency other than the agency that assisted you during the dossier phase, your new agency must be COA accredited or Hague accredited for the purpose of your post adoption reports. If you are no longer working with your original home study agency please let us know so that we can confirm your current agency’s accreditation status. Remember GWCA must review and approve each home study and home study update before it is finalized. Do not hesitate to contact us directly should you have questions about this process.

Chinese New Year

This weekend marks the beginning of the celebration of Chinese New Year. This is the most important and longest of the traditional Chinese holidays. 2013 is the year of the snake. The holiday is from 2/8 – 2/15. Businesses, including CCCWA will be closed during this time.

Here are some fun traditions to incorporate to your family’s celebratory weekend! ( Reference and Source: History Channel)

**Red envelopes -Called “hong bao” in Mandarin, the red envelopes filled with money are typically only given to children or unmarried adults with no job. If you’re single and working and making money, you still have to give the younger ones the hong bao money. The color red denotes good luck/fortune and happiness/abundance in the Chinese Culture and is often worn or used for decoration in other celebrations.

**Dragon – The Dragon is present in many Chinese cultural celebrations as the Chinese people often think of themselves as descendants of the mythical creature. On the fifth day of the New Year when many people have to start going back to work, they will also have the Dancing Dragons perform in the front of the office building. On the 15th day of the New Year (Yuan Xiao Jie), they will also have dancing dragon performances. The dragon represents prosperity, good luck and good fortune.

**Traditional Foods-The Chinese New Year’s Eve meal is the most important dinner of the year.Many families often celebrate New Year’s Eve dinner at a restaurant. These dishes used to be all made from scratch, but now people can easily buy them prepackaged at the supermarkets.
•Eight Treasures Rice (contains glutinous rice, walnuts, different colored dry fruit, raisins, sweet red bean paste, jujube dates, and almonds).
•”Tang Yuan” – black sesame rice ball soup; or a Won Ton soup.
•Chicken, duck, fish and pork dishes.
•”Song Gao”, literally translates to “loose cake”- which is made of rice which has been coarsely ground and then formed into a small, sweet round cake.
•”Jiu Niang Tang” – sweet wine-rice soup which contains small glutinous rice balls
•a sweet soup made of cut-up fruit: Cut fruit is added into hot/warm water which has had a thickening agent (like cornstarch).

Check your family’s local resources; there might be some fun activities in your area to celebrate this holiday!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! “Best wishes and congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year.”

Congress Extends Adoption Tax Credit

January 2, 2013 – Alexandria, VA – Late Tuesday night,
Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act which will become law upon President Obama’s signature. Amongst the provisions of this Act was an extension of the adoption tax credit.

Complete details of implementation are still to be seen, but the bill permanently extends the adoption tax credit which is set at $10,000, but may once again be scaled for inflation, potentially bringing it to near the 2012 amount of $12,650. Families with incomes under $150,000 will receive the full credit and it will gradually phase out for higher incomes.

“Congress is to be commended for remembering children and families as a priority. The adoption tax credit is an important layer of support for families who adopt. The credit helps ensure children find their way to safe, stable, loving, and permanent families” says Megan Lindsey of National Council For Adoption. “We are grateful to Congress, the Obama administration, and our many partnering advocates in the Save the Adoption Tax Credit Working Group for their tireless efforts on behalf of this important credit.”

The complete language of the American Taxpayer Relief Act is available here.

The Stork has landed

Hello! The Stork has landed at Great Wall China Adoption. CCCWA has completed the matching process for families with dossiers registered through October 10, 2006. Last week we received 5 referrals for families whose dossiers were logged in on October 9, 2006 and 1 referral for an expedited family with a log in date of 10/10/2007.(The qualifications for an expedited family are US Citizens living and working in China for at least one year prior to sending in their dossier. Or one of the prospective adoptive parents is Chinese and born in China or one full set of grand parents are Chinese and born in China.)

This referral group included 6 girls whose ages ranged from 9 months to 1 years old. Children in this referral group were from the Sichuan, Yunnan and Jiangxi provinces. Congratulations to these families!

Please contact me ASAP if you are in the 10/16/2006, 10/19/2006 or 10/26/2006 to review your status.

Catherine Silbiger
Referral Consultan
Catherine@gwca.org
512-323-9595 ext. 3051

USCIS Paperwork Information

Families have two options: you can apply for extensions of your paperwork with USCIS, or allow your paperwork to lapse and re-file with USCIS under the I-800A once closer to referral.  Keep in mind that we do recommend families interested in adopting a child through our Waiting Child Program keep their USCIS approval current.

Please note you are NOT required to continue refilling for the I800A approval.

For information on the form I-800A, and to download the form, please visit the USCIS website at: http://www.uscis.gov/i-800a

Per CCCWA guidelines, families are now required to work with a COA accredited or Hague accredited home study agency for post adoption reports. If you have moved during the process and are working with a new home study agency other than the agency that assisted you during the dossier phase, your new agency must be COA accredited or Hague accredited for the purpose of your post adoption reports. If you are no longer working with your original home study agency please let us know so that we can confirm your current agency’s accreditation status. Remember GWCA must review and approve each home study and home study update before it is finalized.  Do not hesitate to contact me directly should you have questions about this process.