Special Needs Story

Last weekend I was judging a sports competition in Canada. A little girl with down syndrome came out and impressed me with her skills. She really was good! I never know how the kids place until the end of the competition, I just judge what I see and give scores based on the moves. The totals are done later. I gave my scores and later, after I had seen her compete, I saw her walking around with a white cane and then noticed her hearing aids as well. Wow! That was impressive! She had vaulted on a live moving horse, doing skilled gymnastics and dance routines on top of the horse and she was hearing and sight impaired, which I couldn't tell from the judge's stand! In Canada, in this sport that I judge, they don't have separate classes or levels for kids with special needs, so they compete against everyone else. I was thrilled to find out, during the awards ceremony, that this sweet girl with significant special needs got 3rd place overall!!!! That is a testament to what special needs means. It doesn't mean that a child is doomed to a certain life forever. These kids can accomplish what they set their mind to do--it may take them longer, or they may have certain strengths in one area, but they can also do things just like everyone else. It sure was thrilling to see this little girl with multiple special needs receive 3rd place in a class with non special needs kids! I wish there was a video to share so you could see it, too.

Urgent--for child aging out!

We are desperately trying to get the girl home who turns 14 in a couple of weeks (featured a couple of posts ago). We are in urgent need of a contact high up at the Department of State who can make things happen (this is a very unusual case).  We are using all of our contacts to try to make things happen, but we can't stop and wait, as this child doesn't have time for us to wait. If you can help, please email me: staff@asiadopt.org

Thank you!

Marci

Waiting Children Going Back!!!!

A group of our waiting children's files will be going back next week if they don't find families! Please help us get the word out about these kids! A bunch of these kids are older kids with grants, which are only obtainable through ASIA. These kids are Foster, Heath, Darien, Leroy, Corey and Scott! These boys are all aging out soon and we're they're last chance--please help them!

Janelle is another of those kids whose file may go back! She is a wonderful 12 year old girl who I thought would be placed right away! I guess we have not yet found her family, which is hard to believe. The twins will be going back as well as Greta. It seems hard to believe that none of these children have families yet. We have a week left to try--please help me get the word out about these great kids! And if you know of someone I can post that I haven't, please let me know!

New Waiting Children!!!!!

ASIA has new waiting children! They are not from Baotou, but nevertheless, they are adorable! Please see our password-protected waiting child list to meet the new children ranging in age from 2 years old to 12 years old, with a goood mix of girls and boys.

Good News!

Girl turning 14 has a family pursuing her! We are trying to make it happen before she turns 14--cross your fingers, pray or do whatever it is that you can do to help us get her family to her in time!

In other news, ASIA has new waiting children on our private waiting child list. Please also note the children aging out who have $5000 grants to help with their adoptions! We still have several waiting for their dream to come true. Please help us spread the word about all of the children in need of families.

Girl Turning 14 in October Needs a Family Quick!

This girl is turning 14 in October and really needs a family that is already DTC and could travel soon! She is described by someone who knows her well as sweet, gentle with younger children, always willing to help and never a discipline problem. She is very responsible and it is easy to make her laugh. The person who knows her said: "Of all of the older children we work with, she is the most responsible and trustworthy. This little girl comes to our house to play all the time.  She is best friends with my little girl.  She is wonderful.  She limps because of her arthritis.  She's very short, has a chubby face, and freckled.  Her smile lights up the whole room.  She is quiet and responsible.  She helps out in with the babies and younger children." She has adults to whom she is close. She would be a blessing to a family ready to travel before October. This is urgent! Can you help find her family?

In Limbo

                                                        Will I have a family of my own?
No files yet, but stay tuned! They could be here any day now and we could be advocating for children like the adorable girl pictured above....

For all of the unnamed children who wait:

We Need You!

Heath

 Everyone is excited for the files to come from Baotou, including the ASIA staff! While we're waiting, I do have to mention the other kids who endlessly wait for their forever families. Heath and Foster are 2 boys aging out before the end of the year and they both basically have $10,000 grants for their adoptions! With the tax credit, that adoption wouldn't cost much at all (not that cost should be a deciding factor, but it helps)! We need families for them that either have dossiers submitted already or are willing to work at warp speed and advocate to move government officials a long. These guys deserve someone like that! Just look at them!

Foster

Skippy

Skippy is another boy with a grant. This grant comes from ASIA's Gift of Family Fund that some of you have contributed to....we're still trying to grow the fund, but in the meantime we are offering a small grant of $1500 to try to help Skippy get adopted. The picture you see above was the first moment we walked into the orphanage. He was the first child we saw and he was all smiles. The second I saw him, I thought "Skippy." He's so sweet and gentle, kind and tolerant of the other kids. Of course, he is a boy and he does like his super heroes! Wouldn't it be fun to teach him to swim for the first time? Or to fish, or ride a bike or even to say "I love you?"

We're expecting the younger children's files to come first, but these older guys need families, too! Could you be the family for one of them? Do you know someone who could? Contact me: marcisk@asiadopt.org

Baotou Babes

Folks are starting to get excited about seeing some more files from Baotou and so are we! We can't wait to share more about all these precious kiddos!

Isn 't that sweet?

This little guy is all smiles! Fei just loved him!

Chatter and Media

There has been a lot of chatter lately about the recent article in the New York Times regarding child trafficking in China. We felt that it was important to address it. ASIA has posted our response on our website:  http://www.asiadopt.org/asia-events/recent-news/612-asias-response-to-the-ny-times-article

Unicef is NOT All it's cracked up to be!

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/red-thread-adoptive-family-forum/2011/aug/3/united-states-unicef-war-international-adoptions/

Please take a look at this article if you haven't seen it already. It explains why Unicef is not all that it claims to be. Unicef is a major lobby against international adoption. They put culture ahead of emotional, mental and physical health of children.  If you're following ASIA's blog, you know that orphans are much better off in families and that if left in their own countries, would not get the healthcare and love that they so need.

Foster and Heath Could Be Yours, too!

Foster is performing for you:-)

Don't Heath's eyes just pull you in?

Look what a studious boy he is! Isn't there anyone out there who wants a boy? Teenage boys are much easier than girls....:-) Come on, folks--help me find families for these boys! They deserve them just as much as those girls do! THE ORPHANAGE IS WILLING TO WAIVE THE ORPHANAGE DONATION FOR THESE BOYS! PLUS THEY EACH HAVE $5000 GRANTS IN ADDITION! That would make their adoptions much less expensive. These boys are worth it!  These poor guys are watching everyone else get adopted as their 14th birthdays quickly approach! Please contact me if you could consider them: marcisk@asiadopt.org

Look at these handsome boys!

Aren't they handsome? Could they be a good fit for your family? See our password protected waiting child list for more information about them shortly!

Trail Mix

In the midst of getting ready for Baotou excitement, I do want to mention some other things, so I'm mixing this post all together (thus the title).  We do have several children on our current waiting child list that will age out towards the end of this year and the beginning of next year. Most of our girls have found families, but we need some folks interested in boys! Boys are great, too, and I don't know how many times I've heard that they're so much easier than girls in the teenage years:-) We have some great boys and we just got updates on them, so please help spread the word about them before it's too late! Send people to our password protected website to take a look! They're very handsome:-) Updates will be going up soon! All of the boys that are aging out have $5000 grants to help with their adoptions! Spread the word, pay it forward, do your magic and help these kids! Thank you!

Check Out Our Baotou Kids!

More pictures from Baotou...check out that tummy time!

The Baotou Teacher College's library did a book donating event with Baotou orphanage-- they donated over 4000 books! Check out pics of our baotou kids: http://www.bttc.cn/bttc/shownews.asp?id=1565

Previews

Here's some previews of some of the kids we met while in Baotou:

Aren't they cute? Stay tuned in August to find out more!

Baotou excitement

We are hoping to receive files of a bunch of children from Baotou in late August. We're all very excited! It seems as if we will have several adorable young ones and I'm excited for you to get to know them as we did. We can't post specifics until we have the files, but let me just say that I think your hearts will melt as ours did. So I leave you with the suspense.....

Happy News!

We have happy news while we await files from Baotou!  Lina and Marianne both have families pursuing them! Congratulations to those families!

I see that many of you have things to share about Inner Mongolia! If you do, please feel free to email me: marcisk@asiadopt.org We would love to have more information to help our families that are soon to go there to be united with their children:-) We spent a week in Baotou, but did not go to the capital where adoptions will take place. Please feel free to share! Happy Tuesday!

Around Baotou

Since it's almost August and we're hoping to receive more files from the kids we met in Baotou in August, I'm hoping to get everyone excited about that again. Here are some pictures from around Baotou (mostly our walk between the orphanage and Hotel)

A fruit stand

Fei, Donna and Dr. Hayes borrowed a rickshaw for this one!

Fei and Susan, ASIA staff