Happy Thanksgiving!

Program Updates

This week we received one Travel Approval for a China Waiting Child.  This family will be joining the group that is leaving on December 1^st.

A new list of shared files of waiting children will be posted by CCAA on Tuesday, November 23^rd.  No word yet on the next group of the non-special needs China referrals.

The International Adoption Simplification Act passed House approval on Monday.  This law will now go into effect when the President signs it, or if not signed, will be effective 10 days after it lands on his desk.  This law will allow all Hague families to sign an immunization waiver promising that they will have their newly adopted child immunized in the U.S. and eliminate the need for children to have all of their immunizations done before leaving China.  This is great news for the older adoptive children who often have to receive several immunizations at the time of their medical exam in Guangzhou.

Journey of Hope and Special Focus Update

Our first Journey of Hope child is coming home the week before Christmas!   We wish her and her family safe travels and an easy adjustment period.

Other Information

FTIA offices will be closed November 24-26 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

There will also be no blog postings next week. 

Here’s a great offer on one of my favorite adoption books:  http://www.emkpress.com/adoptparent15sw.html  I often find articles from this book to send to families regarding a variety of situations.

Continuing on with our 10 part series of sharing the Ten Things Adoptive Parents Need to Know:

On week #6 - we focus on Developing rituals that organize meaning for the child:

1.      Greet your child into the day.  For example, when waking your child in the morning you might say “I can’t wait to see your beautiful brown eyes open!”

2.      Spend time in their world of play.  As mentioned in previous weeks, it is important to spend at least 30 minutes each day playing with your child.

3.      Create calming, soothing rituals that relax them into sleep. Depending on your child’s age, this might mean reading a book, giving a lotion massage, talking about the day’s events, snuggling while listening to music.  Whatever the routine, it should be consistent and calming.

This concept is giving attention to the child on the parent’s terms…greeting the child into the day, narrowing the child’s world to what they can handle, developing rituals of experience that help the child anticipate parents, and learn to perceive themselves through parent perceptions.

If you have any questions about the concepts presented or would like to talk in more detail please contact cscheller@ftia.org.   As a reminder, we will be hosting a webinar entitled Ten Things Adoptive Parents Need to Know at the end of this series (December 2010).

During this time, I am reminding of how thankful I am to have been blessed by adoption.  I hope everyone enjoys a great Thanksgiving holiday!

 Betty