China's Baby HatchChinese Doctor Sentenced for Selling BabiesAdoption Families Audited by IRSBrad Pitt and Angelina Jolie learning Chinese?Chop, fry, eat: Learning to cook Chinese in ChinaSocial Media Impact in China - AdoptionWhat Parents Want: Evidence From Child AdoptionAnother Adoption StoryChild kidnapping in China: A case studyThe Grace FoundationChinese Officials Seized and Sold Babies, Parents Say - NYTimes.comStudy finds small language gaps in children adopted from abroadChinese Adoption ArticleChinese Adoption RootsMoon Festival & AdoptionChinese Adoption - Explosive Article on LA TimesSad Adoption Catch 22Met Chinese Adoption Granpa in DenverRed Thread - Chinese Adoption MythIce Storms in China | Learning Chinese Language Materials for Kids

China's Baby Hatch

Heartbreaking.

China 'baby hatch' inundated with abandoned, disabled children - CNN

Chinese Doctor Sentenced for Selling Babies

I find it very shocking what this Doctor did. It's just wrong. Poor parents.

Chinese doctor sentenced to death for selling babies - NY Post

The Chinese government has reduced foreign adoptions dramatically from what I have read. With the 1 Child Policy being loosened, per the Daily Best Girl Children are no longer stigmatized. The challenge in traditionally in Chinese society, it's the Boy child that takes care of parents. The Girl Child when she married, becomes part of the husband's family. This has changed a bit, as Women can get jobs outside and send money home.

And this article is troubling: Guatemala's Stranded Orphans - WSJ

Labels: chinese Adoption

Adoption Families Audited by IRS

Scary...

If you took the adopting Children Credit, you had a 69% chance of being audited in 2011. But, only 1.5% of the adoption credit was disallowed.

A lot of my customers adopted children from China.

Who will tame the taxman? - The Economist

Labels: chinese Adoption

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie learning Chinese?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie learning Chinese because they want to adopt baby from China? - Now Daily

Their 6 kids are in Chinese classes. Finding the right Chinese school and teachers are a challenge.

Labels: baby learning mandarin, chinese Adoption, Learn Chinese Advice

Chop, fry, eat: Learning to cook Chinese in China

How fun, learn both Chinese Food cooking, and the Language at the same time in China! I would worry about the food safety issue...

Chop, fry, eat: Learning to cook Chinese in China - Gaazette Mail

Labels: chinese Adoption, Chinese Food, learn chinese

Social Media Impact in China - Adoption

The story went viral due to Social Media in China.

Orphans pictured chained up in China - The Telegraph
Authorities have suspended the director of an orphanage in eastern China after photographs showing two mentally disabled children shackled to furniture with metal chains were posted online.

A lot of my customers for Learning Chinese Material have adopted children from China.,

Labels: chinese Adoption, social media

What Parents Want: Evidence From Child Adoption

I missed the lecture, but hopefully Cal Tech will post this on iTunes store, some older presentations (until 2010) streaming theater site soon.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Beckman Auditorium
Free
ShareThis

Presented By:

Caltech Committee on Institute Programs

Adoption is an important phenomenon in the United States. Approximately 2.5 percent of all children, or 1.6 million, are adopted. The adoption process is fascinating for social scientists, allowing inspection of fundamental questions about preferences of parents for child attributes, such as race and gender, that are difficult to identify with biological chilen, where parents have limited freedom of choice. A new data set enables us to examine parents' attitudes and behavior in the domestic adoption process, while providing policymakers an evidence-driven base for evaluating the implications of highly debated policies, such as those restricting adoption by single-sex and foreign couples.

Leeat Yariv is Professor of Economics at Caltech.

Labels: chinese Adoption

Another Adoption Story

Perry Marshal, an online advertising guru, is adopting a child from China. It's taken 4 years to his Gotcha Day.

Labels: chinese Adoption

Child kidnapping in China: A case study

What an incredibly sad practice.

Child kidnapping in China: A case study - Danwei

Labels: chinese Adoption

The Grace Foundation

Great organization that is delivering medical, education, and resources to orphans and disadvantaged children in China. I spoke with their President last night, Nancy Robertson.

The Grace Children's Foundation | Delivering Medical, Education and Humanitarian Aid Resources to Orphaned and Disadvantaged Children

They also have a project that students can lead. Love, Heal and Educate Children Campaign - The Grace Foundation

Labels: chinese Adoption

Chinese Officials Seized and Sold Babies, Parents Say - NYTimes.com

Shocking and incredibly sad.

Chinese Officials Seized and Sold Babies, Parents Say - NY Times

Labels: chinese Adoption

Study finds small language gaps in children adopted from abroad

Study finds small language gaps in children adopted from abroad - Canadian Press

A challenge, in my opinion, in the study is the age the students are being tested at.

The study was at 1 1/2 years to 4 years after adoption. Then on average 16 months later. And most kids are adopted between 7 months to 2 years old.

I would not be surprised is as the students age and interact more at school, that the difference disappears.

Labels: chinese Adoption

Chinese Adoption Article

A family in China made babies their business - LA Times.

The lucrative trade in newborns was fueled by an adoption frenzy that saw government-run orphanages paying for children who they then made available to Westerners.

My opinion what China should do is set up a DNA database for all those with missing children (30,000 a year). And then require all children to be adopted to donate DNA.

Labels: chinese Adoption

Chinese Adoption Roots

Adoptive families' quests to trace Chinese roots often meet dead ends - From the LA Times.

Good article about how many families with children adopted from China are going back to China to find out where out more about their children's background. There are some heart warming tales in the story.

Related Resources:

Labels: chinese Adoption

Moon Festival & Adoption

Nice article in Dallas about a Girl Scout Troop of Girl's adopted from China. The troop celebrated the Moon Festival and Dragon Boat Racing!

Girls adopted from China explore Asian culture, find friendship in Daisy troop - Dallas News. And per the comments there are two other girl scout troops like this, one in Florida and the other in Indiana.

My daughter was #2 in her troop for sales, after she got credit for selling a couple of hundred dollars worth of cookies (my Mother was a former Girl Scout and took it to her work, and we also had a table out at the Monrovia Rock Hound Show).

A challenge with ethnic Chinese in the US and Girl Scouts per a friend of mine (Taiwanese and in my MBA program) who did a lot of outreach to the Chinese community was the emphasis on academics in the Chinese Culture. Per her, girl scouts was a hard sell to Chinese parents. Personally, I see a huge amount of value in the Girl Scouts, especially in the leadership area.

Related Resources:

Labels: chinese Adoption

Chinese Adoption - Explosive Article on LA Times

Explosive...

Chinese babies stolen by officials for foreign adoption - LA Times.
In some rural areas, instead of levying fines for violations of China's child policies, greedy officials took babies, which would each fetch $3,000 in adoption fees.

China needs to do something about their corruption issue. This is a bad situation for all involved, and I don't see any good solutions.

In a perfect world all adopted children and "possible biological parents" would have DNA testing done. But, unfortunately this is not going to happen. China's government, in my opinion, is going to want to sweep this under the rug as it is the 60th anniversary of the revolution and attempt to contain the scandal and minimize any unfavorable publicity.

Related Posts:

Labels: china's future, chinese Adoption, chinese corruption

Sad Adoption Catch 22

http://jayscruggs.livejournal.com/ - adoptive parents who can't bring home their child from China. Very catch 22 situation.

Related Posts:

Labels: chinese Adoption

Met Chinese Adoption Granpa in Denver

I was eating breakfast at a hotel with my co-workers, two from China and one from Taiwan, and when I got up a person at another table asked me if they were speaking Japanese, I said no, Chinese. It seems his son's family just adopted a child from China 2 months ago with a cleft palate. Nice conversation about how much his grandson has improved since getting surgery and is almost walking, and should be able to catch up. He's 2 years old.

In the car, I asked my co-worker who is visiting from China, if adoption is good for China? Her answer was yes, since the kids will have a better life. Interesting, and controversial answer with some. My answer was from a political viewpoint it's good for the Chinese Government, since they now have a little piece of China with pretty well off couples in the US (adoption ain't cheap, unfortunately).

Related Posts:

Labels: chinese Adoption

Red Thread - Chinese Adoption Myth

There is an ancient Chinese belief that an invisible, unbreakable red thread connects all those who are destined to be together. It is a red thread that is tied around the ankles of those who are destined to meet.

The Red Thread by Grace Lin is a cute book of this story.

The color red symbolizes good luck, happiness, joy, life's energy, and for brides, since it is of energy as symbolized by fire. This is why you get Red Envelopes for Chinese New Year filled with money!

The Red Thread myth is very popular in the Chinese adoption community with a lot of businesses using that name including a custom Chinese Adoption Video service, a Chinese Adoption Agency named Red Thread, and with even a magazine of that name, Red Thread Magazine. With the huge amount of children adopted from China, there also happens the orphanage family. There is a connection among the parents who go as a group together to China and use the same adoption agency.

Related Posts:

Labels: chinese Adoption

Ice Storms in China

The impact of a severe winter can be seen as millions of travelers have been stranded as they attempt to make their way home for the annual New Years Holiday to the rise in food prices due to destruction of crops. Half The Sky, an organization to help abandoned orphans in China. Estimate of damages is $7.5 Billion and is the worst in 50 years.

Two E-Mails I received from Half The Sky (a great foundation I have a lot of respect for) founded by a parent who adopted a child from China and is going to carry the Olympic Torch.

Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008
Subject: Further news from HTS regarding our little ones in China

Hello again,

Welfare institutions in south and central China are having the hardest

time dealing with the weather disaster. This part of the country is

simply not equipped to deal with extreme cold or heavy snow and ice. The

most common critical problems are power outages, lack of safe drinking and

cooking water, lack of fuel, diapers and public transportation. In many

places where buses have stopped running, our Half the Sky nannies have

been walking hours (in one case, 4 hours) along icy roads to get to the

children. As conditions worsen, our nannies and teachers are remaining at

the institutions day and night. They have given up the idea of going home

to their own families for the holidays. They need quilts. They need warm

clothing. They need coal, water, disposable diapers and food.

Here are the reports I have thus far, while in-flight. I will send more

soon. Where you don’t see a report, either all is well or I don’t yet

have information. I will tell you when we’ve heard from everyone. We’ve

also given all the directors an emergency number to call when/if the

situation changes.

Hunan Province

Chenzhou has had no electricity or water for six days. They are relying

on coal for heat and cooking. The supermarkets and banks are closed.

Staff is using personal money for baby food, diapers, coal and water.

Costs are rising due to shortages. They have a natural well which,

thankfully, is not frozen. Even the older children are helping to fetch

water. They have perhaps six days of food remaining. The local

government is overwhelmed by the disaster and is unable to help much.

Shaoyang has seen heavy snow every day for 20 days. There is sufficient

water and, for the moment, there is power, so the children are warm.

However, 5 of 6 power poles have been downed by weather. Only one stands

and the institution fears it will fall as well, leaving them without

electricity. Much of the rest of the city is already dark. Children and

caregivers continue to work and play together. High school students are

cramming for exams and trying to ignore the cold. Everyone prays that the

power pole will continue to stand.

Yueyang also has no electricity. The one functioning power generator is

being used in the children’s dormitory. They are relying on coal heat but

the price has tripled in recent days. They are running out of food and

have applied to the local Bureau of Civil Affairs for funds to buy more.

Our HTS nannies have been walking for hours to get to work, often slipping

on the ice, “even though they try to be cautious.”

Xiangtan has had snow for the past 10 days. The main water pipe is

“broken again.” There is no water for cooking right now but they do have

electricity, coal and blankets. They are still able to buy food but

prices have gone way up. Not all of the HTS nannies can get to work every

day. They are keeping the programs going as well as they can and make

sure that at least five nurturing nannies are there with the babies every

day, along with the institution’s caregivers.

Jiangsu Province

Changzhou has seen some heavy snows but the director reports that the

children are fine. The director says that he’s doing his best to ensure

that the children do not suffer. Public transportation is crippled by the

snow and HTS nannies and teachers are waiting for hours to catch a bus for

home or even walking home in the snowy dark.

Nanjing reports no problems at all despite the heavy snows. I tried to

fly into Nanjing yesterday but it was not possible.

Anhui Province -

Chuzhou has both water and power. Only public transportation has failed.

HTS nannies and teachers are walking to work. They are leaving home extra

early to be there for the children.

Guangxi Province

Guilin has two broken HTS heater/air conditioners in the Infant Nurture

rooms and they’ve asked us to replace. The rooms are very, very cold.

They ask for more soft matting for the floors and also snow boots for our

HTS nannies who’ve been slipping and falling in the ice and snow as they

come to work. They are so ill-equipped to handle severe weather.

Jiangxi Province

Fuzhou lost power for a few days but now it is back to normal. The snow

stopped a couple of days ago but now is falling again. The directors and

HTS staff have gathered all the children into one big room to keep them

warm. They’ve bought New Years clothes for the children and will have a

party no matter how bad the weather. This year, however, the foster

parents will stay home to keep the children safe. The institution has

enough food and water. They want us to focus on those in more serious

trouble and ask us please not to worry.

Jiujiang says they’ve never faced such bitter weather. They desperately

need disposable diapers. Washable diapers cannot be dried. They need

warm clothes, shoes, gloves hats quilts and warm mats for the floors.

They need medicine for infant coughs and colds.

Hubei Province

Wuhan suffers heavy snows but they still have power. Heaters are working

but there is no water for bathing. The local community has offered to

take children in for the Chinese New Year and the institution feels this

may be the best decision to keep them safe.

Huangshi reports that the freeze is so severe that all heater/air

conditioners have stopped functioning. They need quilts and warm clothes

for the children. They need disposable diapers. Several HTS nannies have

fallen on the ice on their way to work and they need medicine to treat

cuts and bruises.

Gathering these reports together makes me think about how careful we have

always been at Half the Sky to maintain our focus on nurture and education

programs. Ours is not a medical or relief organization. There are many

wonderful groups who do that work. Probably the primary reason we’ve been

able to accomplish so much and reach so many children is because we’ve

maintained our focus on our core mission -- providing nurturing care for

children who’ve lost their families..

But a moment like this really cannot be ignored. The tragedy of Hurricane

Katrina in the US taught us that no matter how wealthy a country might be,

its vulnerable citizens (old, poor, ill, and orphaned children) are the

ones who suffer most when disaster strikes. Even as China seems to be

entering the first world, a disaster like this is quite simply crippling.

We know that orphaned children will be among those who suffer the damage

most.

I say this because I think we should break one of Half the Sky’s rules

and, if there are sufficient funds raised in the Little Mouse Emergency

Fund, we should offer relief (water, food, diapers, quilts, clothing) to

any orphanage where children need help. Let’s see how this goes. If

people are as generous as I think they might be, we will work with the

provincial Bureaus of Civil Affairs in every hard-hit community, and offer

assistance to all welfare institutions where there is need.

Please lend a hand, however you can. You can donate to the Little Mouse

Emergency Fund by calling us in the US at +1-510-525-3377 or in Asia at

+852- 2520-5266 or by visiting us at www.halfthesky.org. Once there, you

can click on “Donate Now”

http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Direct+Contributions

or go to http://www.halfthesky.org/help/docs/usdonation-orderform.pdf to

download a form to mail or fax. Donations are tax-deductible in US,

Canada and Hong Kong.

Please forward this message and tell your friends and family.

I will be back with an update very, very soon.

Thank you!

Jenny

Jenny Bowen

Executive Director

Half the Sky Foundation

www.halfthesky.org

Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.

Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008
Subject: We need your help in China - NOW!

Dear friends,

Greetings from Beijing. Every year at this time we send you a note

celebrating and welcoming the Lunar New Year. This year, the Year of the

Mouse, promises prosperity (we hope!) and good fortune and there should be

plenty to celebrate.

But in these days leading up to the holiday the weather has dealt China a

heavy blow. YouÂ’ve probably heard about the millions of workers stranded

all over the country, struggling to return home to their families for the

Spring Festival Holiday. But I donÂ’t know if you know how rough these

days are for our children in welfare institutions, who, of course, have no

families to go home to. You wonÂ’t read about them in the news.

Despite power outages and downed phone lines, our Beijing staff has been

reaching out to all Half the Sky orphanages by whatever means possible.

WeÂ’ve reached all but five. In some places, conditions are pretty grim.

WeÂ’ve managed to get word to all of our sites that we are going to do

whatever it takes to get the children the help they need. I am asking for

your help.

Today Half the Sky launches the Â“Little Mouse Emergency FundÂ” to help the

institutions purchase what they need to get through this disaster. If

there are funds left over when the weather clears and services are

restored, we will take the balance and help each site establish a store of

emergency provisions so that this never happens again.

You can give to the Little Mouse Emergency Fund by clicking Â“Donate NowÂ”

on our website. Please note in the Â“Special Instructions to Half the SkyÂ”

that your gift is for the Little Mouse Emergency Fund.

I am trying to get on an airplane right now (even airports are crazy!) but

I will write more details about the needs and conditions in individual

orphanages as I fly. Will send more just as soon as I can. I'd be very

grateful if you'd forward this message to others who you think might care

about the children.

Please be safe and warm and wellÂ….

Love and thanks,

Jenny

Jenny Bowen

Executive Director

Half the Sky Foundation

www.halfthesky.org

Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.

Labels: china economy, chinese Adoption

Wednesday, November 26, 2014