Red Couch Photo

These children will be heading home tomorrow.  The boy in the middle was happy until his parents sat him down with the girls!  (If you are reading this from the yahoo group, please go to our blog at ftiachina.blogspot.com to see the picture.)

Changes from the US Consulate in Guangzhou

The Consulate has announced changes that will be beneficial for families!

The changes below will take effect February 28, 2011.

Consulate Appointments

The family interview appointments will now be available on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  The document intake process will be combined with the oath swearing ceremony during those mornings, which will allow a faster turn-around time for the child’s visa.  The visa will be issued late afternoon of the day following the consulate appointment, which means that families will now be able to leave Guangzhou one day earlier (the 2nd day after Consulate appointment instead of the 3^rd)!

There will be approximately 12 appointments allowed for every time slot during these mornings.  Families are asked to limit the people attending their appointment to just the adoptive parents and the newly adopted child as there will be limited space.  The coordinator will be able to assist families prior to their interview, but will not be allowed to accompany them during the interview.

DS230 Submissions and Pick Ups

The above changes to the Consulate appointments will allow the Consulate to expand their times for the drop-off of DS230 packages and subsequent pick-up of the LSC/Article 5 letters.   Couriers will now be able to drop off and pick up these items on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons.   It will still take the Consulate 10 business days for this process.   For our families, this will mean that your DS230 can now be delivered to the Consulate on  Tuesday or Wednesday (instead of having to wait for Thursday) after it is sent from our US office.  Your Article 5 will then typically be available for pick up by our courier the same week day 2 weeks later (or 10 business days if holidays are involved).

Referrals and new program information

Referrals came earlier this month for two of our families both with a LID of 5/30/06.  Their new children were both girls from the Gansu province, born in December of 2009.  Congratulations to the new families!  The last group of referrals went through June 2, 2006 LIDs, which means those families waited 56 months from the time their dossiers were logged in until the time they received their referrals. 

We currently have 3 regular China and 2 Waiting Children families in China that are scheduled to return the end of next week.

Information on our new waiting child program, called Jing Yi Program, is up on our website now.  To find out more about this program and to see information on the children currently available in this program, please go to our website at:  http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JingYiProgram.asp

The Chinese Consulate will be using a new form for families to obtain their visas, effective June 1st.  The new form is now 4 pages long, however it’s not yet up on their website.  For now, you can find the new form here:  http://big5.fmprc.gov.cn/gate/big5/www.chinaconsulatechicago.org/chn/qzhz/qz/P020110127196754166806.pdf

"Oil and Water: The Attachment Disordered Child in School" by Lawrence B Smith L.C.S.W. - C., L.I.C.S.W., is a great resource full of strategies and ideas for you and your child's teachers.  You can find this article, courtesy of EMK Press here:
http://www.emkpress.com/oilandwater.html

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Today is the official New Years Day in China.  All businesses are shut down as families return to their homes to celebrate the start of a new year.  Before shutting down for the holiday, the CCAA sent out referrals and they arrived in our office on Wednesday.  FTIA’s referrals went to families with a log-in date of May 30, 2006.  Congratulations to those happy families that waited so long for their new children!!

This New Year, according to the Chinese zodiac, will be the year of the Rabbit.   The year of the Rabbit is thought to be a calming year, since it follows the aggressive Tiger year.  The Rabbit is traditionally associated with home and family, artistic pursuits, diplomacy and keeping the peace.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!!!  Happy New Year to You!

Red Couch Photo and Chinese New Years

We have four families coming home this week from China with their newest family members.  Here they are on the infamous red couch!  (Note: if you are reading this from the yahoo group, please go to the blog at   ftiachina.blogspot.com to view this photo.)  We will have 4 families leaving for China right after Chinese New Year.

This week a new shared list of waiting children came out and we had 3 successful matched and they’ve all received their PAs!  We also received another PA this week, making a total of 4.  Congratulations to these families on being one step closer to their new children!

For those of you that adopted in 2010, here is an informative video explaining the Adoption Tax Credit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQryETwRziA&feature=youtu.be&a

Next week will be the start of the Chinese New Year holiday in China.  Most offices in China will be closed from February 2nd through the 9^th.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!!!!!  (Happy Chinese New Year!!!!!)

Red Couch Photo & 6 TAs!

Three families came home this weekend, and here they are posing on the famous red couch! (If you are reading this from yahoo, please go to ftiachina.blogspot.com to view.)

Also today we received 6 TA's!!!  Two are for waiting children families and four for regular China families.  Congratulations!

Program Updates

Program Updates

This week we received one TA for a Waiting Children family

We have 4 families that are headed to China this coming week to meet their newest children.  We wish them the best on their journey!  We have 3 families currently in China that have met their children and are doing well.

Journey of Information

Be sure to check out Jimmy with our Journey of Hope program.  Jimmy wasn’t included on the original list of children as his file wasn’t yet prepared when we visited the province.  Jimmy is 9 years old with mild developmental delays.  There is a video linked to our website that shows him performing during the Journey of Hope program. 

We’ve also appointed Sunny as our new A Child’s Plea child, meaning that FTIA will waive our agency fees for the family adopting her.  Sunny will lose her chance to be adopted if she doesn’t have a family by September when she turns 14.  You can learn more about Sunny & Jimmy on our website under the Journey of Hope program at this link: http://www.ftia.org/waitingchildren/JOHList.asp 

New Program Information

Posted on our yahoo groups this week was an announcement about our new China Waiting Child program in Guizhou province.   We will be sharing more information on this program on our website and this blog in the near future.  Please be sure to watch for it.