South Africa Picture

Baby Giraffe

A message from our Agency

Greetings to our China families. As a result of the recent changes in
the guidelines and the uncertainty that some of you are feeling, we
felt it would be an appropriate time for you to hear from Keith
Wallace, our Executive Director. The following post was written by
him.

First, I would like to congratulate those who have recently returned
home with your baby or who have recently received a referral. We
rejoice with you in this exciting time and encourage those still
waiting to recognize that there is hope that your own referral will
come and you too will be united with your child.

The last few months have been difficult for many of you in light of
the revised regulations from the CCAA. I hope you feel that our China
Team has timely responded to your concerns. If not, you are always
welcome to contact me to let me know your concerns. I know the
China Team has been overwhelmed trying to respond to all of your
concerns and questions. The team genuinely wants to take care of you
and provide you with solid information and support.

In case there is any concern about the quality or amount of
communication between FTIA and the CCAA, let me put your concerns
to rest. Our staff in China remains the same great team we have had for
quite a while—some team members have been with us more than seven
or eight years. And even though Tina Ji is not in our headquarters, she
remains a vital part of the FTIA family and assists with our regular
communication with our China team in Beijing and with the CCAA.

For each of you, I know the longer wait times for referral are very
difficult. There are many rumors about why there is a longer wait for
referrals. I personally think it is a combination of the increased
number of dossiers received at the CCAA the past year or so and a
better economic situation in China, which has resulted in fewer
abandoned children and an increase in domestic adoption. Please know
that our China team is also distressed by the longer wait for your
referrals. Everyone here wants you to be united with your
daughter/son as soon as possible.

My request is that you understand that your wait time is beyond our
control. I know that does not make the wait any easier. As you wait I
hope you are participating in your local FCC group and reading the
many articles and other resources available on MyFTIA. February 18th
is the Chinese New Year. Please consider participating in a Chinese
New Year celebration sponsored by your local FCC or Chinese American
associations.

I would like to request your understanding of the fact that the
longer waits and the sudden rush to complete dossiers prior to the
CCAA's deadline this spring, are stretching our China team right now.
Although we want to hear from and support all of our families, the
longer wait combined with the large numbers of adopting families
trying to complete dossiers has made it difficult for our team
members to respond to you as quickly as we would like. If we are not
as timely as we – or you – would like with responding, please be
patient.

It is difficult to explain how emotionally exhausting it is for our
coordinators right now. The stress that you feel about the longer
wait or the stress of preparing your dossier so quickly to meet the
deadline is a stress that they feel as well. These two issues
combined have resulted in an increased workload for our coordinators.
For those who have submitted their dossier, every coordinator wants
you to receive your referral as quickly as possible. For those who
are rushing to complete your dossier as quickly as possible, each
coordinator wants to do all they can to assist you as quickly as
possible. We do ask that you understand that for every time you
insist that the coordinator review your documents as quickly as
possible, that coordinator has likely received that same request from
several other adopting families that day. We hope you can understand
the occasional delay during this very busy time.

On the note of dossiers, I would like to take a moment to share that
we do believe that dossiers are being reviewed now with the new
requirements in mind. We have not had any dossiers rejected but we
have had a few inquiries from the CCAA in regards to a family's
financial or health status as well as criminal history such as DUI.
In each case we have been able to contact the family and obtain a
doctor's letter or home study update that has met with the approval
of the CCAA. If your dossier is already in China, please understand
that there is nothing we can do to assure that your dossier will not
be questioned. Contacting your coordinator to look at your dossier to
tell you if it is "okay" is not going to be beneficial to you at this
point and is going to take time away from those families that are so
desperately trying to complete a dossier or respond to a request by
the CCAA. I hope you can understand. It is impossible for us to
anticipate what, if any questions would be asked when your dossier is
reviewed.

Another stress that many of you are facing as a result of the longer
wait is that almost everyone will have to file a second I-600A
application with the CIS. Instead of requesting to be re-
fingerprinted when your fingerprints expire after 15 months, I
recommend you wait for re-fingerprinting until you file your second I-
600A. As you know, your I-171H approval from CIS expires after 18
months.

We understand that no one wants to go through this procedure again,
but there are no alternatives. I have personally met with CIS and the
Department of State on this issue several times and there is no give
in this at all – it is dictated by regulation and statute. While we
know and understand the frustration, the best way to plan for filing
another I-600A is to contact your home study agency about three
months before your I-171H expires and request a home study update.
Try to have the update completed within 30 days so you can file your
second I-600A thirty (30) to sixty (60) days before your first I-171H
expires.

We have added some information on MyFTIA about how to re-file your
I-600A application. For future reference you can find this information
on MyFTIA under Articles and Resources, CIS Forms and Information.
We will also send you a reminder by email as the time nears that you may
need to re-file. Please do read each email we send to be sure that
you do not miss crucial information. Although there are times when we
are simply checking in to see how you are doing, there are also times
when we are trying to communicate some very important information.

Please know that myself and everyone on the China team are here for
you and we are doing everything we can to serve and support you
during this difficult and stressful time. We want every child to have
a home and every family to be complete. We are committed to uniting
you with your child.


Sincerely,


Keith M. Wallace
Executive Director

National Geographic

National Geographic did a series called "China's Lost Girls" hosted by Lisa Ling, in 2005. We purchased this DVD and watched it last night. Doug and I were both sniffling within 5 minutes. It was a very beautiful, well done segment that everyone should see. We couldn't believe our agency didn't make us watch this as part of our educational requirement. Doug said he's ready to go to China, NOW.

Oh yeah, we ordered "Big Bird Goes to China" too. LOL! A co-worker's daughter loves this video.

October 2005 Referrals Today

Today, families with referrals from 9/28-10/13 received their referrals. There is still no speed up as we hoped. Based on today's batch, we still have 13 more months of waiting unless there is a dramatic change.

My guestimate is still May 2008 until we travel to China.