April 2010 China Program Update

Dear China Families,

Happy Spring to all China families in process. I have lots of good news to report this month.

Placements
There was 1 placement of a child from China in March. Heartfelt congratulations to Tony, Amy, and big sister Elle, and on the placement of their son, Peter. They arrived back in the United States on March 26th, 2010. The total number of placements fiscal year to date from China is 13 and the total number of placements calendar year to date to 4. We have a second Welcome House family who JUST left for Beijing to meet their son on April 3rd, 2010, (Our very first Hague family), and a third family, also a Hague family, who we anticipate will receive their travel approval from CCAA in May.

Waiting Child Program- Lots of Successful Matches from the Shared list this month
Welcome House is pleased to announce that our waiting child coordinator successfully matched four Welcome House families with waiting children from the most recent Shared List that was released in March 2010. One of the four families elected not to proceed with their adoption after the 72 hour holding period, but the other three families did decide to proceed with their adoption, and two families already have their pre-approvals and their letters of confirmation should be sent from CCAA shortly. All three families who were successfully matched were grandfathered I-600 A cases who have waited, a LONG time for a referral. All of the children were young, under two years of age, and all had milder correctable special needs. While one month is too short of a time frame to declare a trend, we are cautiously optimistic that the changes that CCAA has instituted, particularly only allowing families with an LID to lock a file for a waiting child have been beneficial for Welcome House families. Typically, Becki has been able to successfully match one or two families each month from the shared list. Finding 4 appropriate matches this month was wonderful.


Current Status of Referrals and Dossier Reviews
As of April 5th, 2010 dossiers that were registered on or before April 30th, 2009 have been reviewed and families with dossiers registered on or before April 17th, 2006 have been successfully matched with children. CCAA again matched 5 business days worth of referrals this month, which is great. Our next group of dossiers that should be matched were logged in with CCAA on April 19th, 2006. We happily anticipate that our next dossier group will actually be matched this month!!!! Exactly 4 years from the time their dossiers were first registered. Whew!!!

Finally we are pleased to announce that two dossiers were sent to China on March 26th, 2010 and should have an official log in date shortly. Both families are interested in being matched with a waiting child from the shared list. As always do not hesitate to ask me if you have questions or concerns. My phone number is (215) 249-0100 ext. 119 and my e-mail is adurie@pearlsbuck. org.