Children's Hope International E-Newsletter

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

The Other Family
One Family Heeds God?s Voice for Another

DEVELOPMENT AID:

Development Aid
Run for Hope, Run for
Children, Run for Life

BLOG OF THE MONTH:

Blog of the Month
More Paperwork?!
- In Photos

PARENT-TO-PARENT:

Parent-to-Parent
Syncing a ?Special? Family Takes Teamwork

KIDS CORNER:

Kids Corner
Festival Kites to Celebrate
Your Adoption

Children's Hope
Easter Party 2008

PROGRAM UPDATES:

	Colombia Safe Travels into a Nation Just Out of Turbulent Times
	Ethiopia Eight Families See Referrals for their Ethiopian Child
	Kazakhstan Families Meeting to Bond with Their Sons
	Russia Spring Showers Bring a Flood of Travel for Happy Russia Families
	Vietnam New Parents Join Large and Excited Travel Groups to Complete Their Vietnamese Adoptions

Request a copy of our Adoption
Guide to see which program
is right for your family.

Help the lives of orphans by sponsoring a child today!

Get your church involved
with orphan ministry.

Our Accreditations

CHINA PROGRAM UPDATES

Children, Long Awaiting Parents, Find Forever Homes through Waiting Children Program

Waiting Children
What does it mean to be a Waiting Child? Older children or those with special medical needs are not so easily matched for adoption. Young healthy infants are quickly placed into loving families, as older children look on. When a child is adopted through the Waiting Child program, it is now their turn to find the love and care of their very own parents.

April 4 begins the 3-day Tomb Sweeping Day holiday in China.

The holiday serves a dual purpose: showing honor by attending to ancestor?s grave sites and also an opportunity to enjoy the new spring flying kites during the day ? and at night!

Learn how to make a kite in the Kids Corner.

On March 3, Children?s Hope International?s China Program received 7 waiting children seeking confirmation letters - official referrals - for families whose hearts were captured by children with special needs; on March 10, we received 3 more. Congratulations to these families!

As of this week, 15 waiting children from our January 2008 waiting child list and 14 (one sibling group of 2) hard to place/multiple agency waiting child have been placed.

China Travel
Our February referral group and fourteen waiting children families will be traveling to China from March 27 to April 10-12 (depending on their child?s province) to complete their Chinese adoptions. Our five families who received referrals in the late December referral group arrived home from China mid-March with their new family additions in tow. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers as they travel and adjust to life at home.

Referrals
The next group of referrals for China?s international adoption program will begin with the 1/5/06 log in date. The current waiting time from log in date until referral is 26-27 months. The wait time from log in date to referral is over 2 years and will continue to climb over time to possibly 4 years.

Baby Basics Class
All first time parents please remember the importance of taking a basic baby/parent education class. These classes should include information on feeding and changing a baby, burping, bottle making, proper ways to hold a baby, what it means when the baby cries, and first aid (choking and CPR for infants).

Additional Resources
University of Minnesota?s International Adoption?s Medicine Program ? Bonding/Attachment Information

AP article, ?China One-Child Policy to Stay in Place?

Completed China Adoptions 2008 ? 25

CCAA NEWS ? http://www.china-ccaa.org/frames/index_unlogin_en.jsp

Check out Melody?s Blog regarding the new Children?s Hope Rehab Home in Beijing.

Three-year-old Acer made his local paper when the state police helped him celebrate Easter. A dozen beeping eggs were the result ? their sound leading Acer, who is visually impaired, to his hidden and hunted Easter eggs.

Acer Bowman was adopted from Children?s Hope ? China Waiting Child Program by parents Bill and Heather of Michigan. ?He?s a joy, but a joy salted with screeches and everything else!? says Heather. The couple is currently paper chasing for their second child, a daughter who also shares Acer?s special need.

Photo by David Dalton of The Macomb Daily

If you would like to share your thoughts, experiences or stories about your adoption, email: Jennifer.Newcomb@ChildrensHope.net We would love to post your family pictures!