December Poland Update
CAN welcomes two new families who have applied and been approved for our Poland program! Many of our families continue to be open to our Waiting Children which we have been advocating for on our website. We are seeking out more specific information on parent eligibility and matching these children to specific families who have expressed interest in them.
After the dossier is submitted, translations usually take between 2-4 weeks. Those who are adopting a Waiting Child will have an immediate match. For families who request to be matched by the Central Authority, these families typically experience about a 12 month referral wait for a match.
As a reminder, the children typically available in Poland are:
- Boys and girls age 6-16 years old
- Children between ages 1-8 are typically special needs
- Two or more siblings at one time
December Ukraine Update
We have had a busy month in Ukraine! Two families have traveled and been matched with referrals! We are so happy for these families. One will be welcoming a 9 year old girl, and the other family will welcome a 10 year old boy. These families are in the court process and awaiting exit documents to be able to bring these children home!
We are grateful to these 2 families for paving the way for future families. From their experience and recommendations, we highly encourage new families to be open to children at least ages 0-12 years, who have special needs, and siblings. Typically, boys are more common than girls. We encourage families to receive USCIS approval for special needs.
Read MorePhillipines Hosting
Today 19 children are arriving from the Philippines for our first hosting program! One of our team members will be at the airport tonight to meet one of the kids and their host family. This is super exciting because it’s the first Christmas many of these kids will have with a family EVER, and it’s the first Winter host program the Philippines has ever done! Some of these kids come from the Typhoon-affected areas, so we are also taking them away from these disaster zones for a month while they continue to rebuild them. We’re so happy this is finally happening, as we’ve been working on this for most of the year. We hope most of these kids will get adopted through the hosting program and our Philippines adoption program will see a huge jump in numbers!
Read MoreCommunity Outreach for National Adoption Month
In celebration of National Adoption Month our staff at Children of All Nations and Great Wall China Adoption engaged in community outreach projects around Austin, Texas.
Adoption Knowledge Association
Staff members manned a booth for families to explore the process of international adoption and ask questions to the adoption consultants. GWCA/CAN staff also gained some wonderful insight by taking part in the many adoption related seminars provided by the AKA organization. Staff attended education sessions headed by experts in the fields of occupational therapy, attachment disorders, neural development in early childhood, loss and trauma. CAN and Great Wall staff was also able to network with other entities in the adoption world to build a stronger net of resources that could be offered to adoptive and potential adoptive families.
Church Outreach
Many churches took part in an effort to reach out to their congregations’ needs for information on adoption and orphan advocacy on Orphan Sunday. CAN was the representative for International, infant domestic and embryo adoption programs. The goal was to get an idea of how we can make a bigger and better impact on the community in this regard by combining our services and education with the church’s outreach, the community in need and the facilities. Next year, during National Adoption Month in Austin Texas, CAN and community churches will be serving a greater number of families with answers to their questions.
St. Edward’s University “Careers in International Social Justice Employer Panel”
One of CAN’s International Adoption Consultants was a panelist representing Children of All Nations and Great Wall China Adoption. The panelists were asked to help the students interested in International Studies prepare themselves for a job in international advocacy or justice. They were asked to describe the daily work and also the challenges that they face every day in their unique positions. The main theme from the panelists in regards to advice for the students was that having experience that sets you apart from all the others will take you far. The panelists described the internships and volunteer work that they did to gain this type of experience and how it helped mold their talents for future jobs. Also they gave a good sense of why they do the jobs they do, and how they were not planning on having that job, but that it was indeed the right fit for them in the end given their unique experiences.
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