April 2018

China and Taiwan Program Newsletter

Spring Has Sprung!

Dressed in Easter best!

Welcome Home!

Big brother and sister are excited to welcome Madison to the family!

Welcome Nora - the newest (and smallest) addition to the family!

Adoption News

Every adoption story is amazing and unique - sometimes there are such special details that indicate that a match is meant to happen, and sometimes it is just that feeling of knowing you are looking at your child. In other cases, something completely unexpected takes place that just can't be ignored. The Holcombe family has a story like this: After bringing our last adopted daughter Macie Joy home in 2016, we were certain we would be led to a season of rest and raising our then nine children.... Shortly after coming home from China with Macie, I would get messages asking me if we saw the photo of Macie’s “sister” on a Facebook page... The little girl they referred to was definitely a sweetheart and looked a lot like our new daughter, but our hands were full as we settled into life with a new child. I tried to ignore it..really I did! Another message and another would come - gentle nudges to take notice.

Then one day our daughter and a friend of hers were visiting each other in China (her sweet friend was a volunteer nurse at the Foster Home). They sent me a side by side collage of the two girls - the little one at the Foster Home on the left and our daughter Macie on the right. We were blown away at how much they resembled each other! The similarities were amazing. Little dark eyes, little pink lips, thick black hair, little hands and feet - all so familiar, it was like we knew her by knowing Macie Lots of questions as we tried to discover more. We found out this little girl also had the same genetic orthopedic condition Macie has - and Macie's dr confirmed with us that siblings can share this condition.

We began to ask many “what if” questions. “What if she had a sister in China?”… “What if” we didn’t find out? The thought of that… being an adoptee myself, not letting her know a biological relative hit very close to my heart. In March we sent our story and suspicions to China and asked the Foster Home who had her in their care what they thought and if we could do a DNA test on the two girls. They agreed, although skeptical - who wouldn’t be! China has a huge population - to find a sibling or relative would be a miracle... We didn’t know what to expect really. So we waited for the results. The results came back and left us completely speechless… We had goosebumps…. Stunned… Amazed! Click HERE to read the rest of this incredible story!

China China Program Update:  Since our March newsletter went out, 3 families in the program have received Letter Seeking Confirmations (LSC) and a whopping FIVE families have received their Travel Approvals (TAs) and are getting ready to head over to China to meet their children!. Currently, 4 families are IN China adopting their children - ALL 4 families are adopting kids from Hunan province! We are excited for the addition of these new children into their families!

Taiwan

Taiwan Program Update:  We are continuing to stay busy in the Taiwan program! We received confirmation on matching for one more waiting child last month. We currently have  11 families matched to children, and 2 families with pending matches to waiting children. We had 1 family travel to complete the adoption of their 2 year old son in March! This child was a direct referral given to the family by our partner agency in Taiwan. Direct referrals are typically children aged 5 years or younger who have minor medical or special needs. Families with completed home studies and who have received Pre-Approval from our partner agency in Taiwan are considered for direct referrals. We will be heading to Taiwan in less than two weeks for our Superkids trip - we are busy gearing up for the trip! Make sure to follow along on our Superkids blog as we'll be updating it throughout the trip. We are currently advocating for over 90 waiting children from Taiwan. If you haven't already, don't forget to join our private Facebook group where we share photos and videos of waiting children from Taiwan!

ADOPT ME! Click an image below to read more about these waiting children from China!

4 year old Pierce

5 year old Peter

Click an image below to read more about these waiting children from Taiwan!

Brothers! Deacon (7) and Dudley (5)

7 year old Kristoff

Superkids Superkids is heading back to Taiwan!

It's almost time to board the plane for the long flight to Taiwan! Our team will be leaving the US on Saturday, April 21st. As usual, we'll spend two days at each of our partner agencies. We'll get to spend our days meeting with many waiting children, evaluating their needs and development, while also playing and having fun. We are excited to do some new projects with the kiddos this trip. A huge thank you to everyone who helped to purchase the items on our Amazon wish list - everything we asked for was donated! You all are amazing! We’ll be blogging on the Superkids blog each day we are in Taiwan, so make sure you are following along. We’ll also be updating our private Facebook group , so if you aren’t a member of the group make sure to put in a request If you are interested in learning more about adopting from Taiwan, please be in touch with Taiwan Program Caseworker, Mary Chapman .

Upcoming Events

4/20: DFW, Gladney Night at Six Flags (RAIN OR SHINE) 4/26: Fort Worth GFA Baby Care Basics 4/28: Austin Mothers-To-Be Tea 4/29: NY Metro Luncheon honoring Mother to Be 4/29: Dallas Family Picnic 5/5: Dallas CPR Class 5/6: FW Kendra Gives Back Party* 5/7: Houston Kendra Gives Back Party* 5/7: Dallas Kendra Gives Back Party* 5/8: New Orleans Kendra Gives Back Party* *Kendra Gives Back is a fundraising event featuring Kendra Scott jewelry - 20% of sales are donated back to Gladney Center! To see all GFA events, click here to view the 2018 calendar! 

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The Gladney Center for Adoption, Asia Program, 850 7th Avenue, Suite 801, New York, NY 10019