Encouraging comments about my adoption agency

A delegation from Vietnam visited the CHI home office in St. Louis two weeks ago and here were some of the comnents received.

Dr. Long-“Children’s Hope is one of the top five American agencies that are very active in Vietnam. Thank you for your large humanitarian aid.”

Dr. Dao- “We were impressed with the families and children who were placed into we met last night. Among the 43 American agencies licensed in Vietnam about 20 are doing good job. The other 23 are not doing a very good job…placing less than 10 children. Children’s Hope is part of the top five agencies in Vietnam. We are trying to create a much easier process. We are doing all we can to support the families and agencies.”

It's always good know this stuff to reinforce that I am working with an ethical and respected adoption agency.

Parent Education meeting 7/9/07

The latest parent education class was about play therapy. It was presented by Denise, one of the social workers in the Overland Park office. We always enjoy when she talks as she is a good speaker and seems knowledgeable. She doesn't exude enthusiasm but you can tell she is dedicated to what she does. She passed out handouts which included recipes for bubbles and playdough and had a list of toys she recommended in a variety of different areas that allow children to express themselves through play. Things like art supplies are great, but having a scary puppet or animal that would let them express perhaps fear or anger is good to have too.
Play therapy conducted by a therapist is generally for children aged 3 and older, but you never know when you might be in a situation where your child is dealing with things they just can't express verbally and play therapy could be an excellent option for them.
We ended up not staying for the break out sessions where you meet with other families waiting for the same country because we didn't recognize anyone. We did get to meet one family's little boy they had brought home in June. He was 10 months and just adorable.
Also we found out that the average length of stay in country has dropped from 18 days to about 11. We'd probably want to stay a full 3 weeks though because how often do you get to go to Vietnam and we'd want to experience it as much as we could after spending the money to fly there, and having some wonderful memories from our trip to become a bigger family.

7/14 another month past

Well we've been waiting 8 months now. Another month closer and they actually got a few more girl referrals in the past month. It's always wonderful to know more people are going to bring home children and to know we're getting closer to bringing home a daughter too.