Here are some excerpts from country updates families received this week:

RUSSIA

Dear Families,
I hope that this email finds you well. This is an update about the program and how things are going in Russia.
We have had a very busy summer. A lot of families have traveled and we received several referrals over the last few months. A lot of families had their court hearing or having court hearings shortly and bringing their children home. This is very encouraging to see more and more children coming home and to see happy families.
I know that the waiting time has increased in Russia, however this summer has been very encouraging for us and for the program in general.

Now, that holidays are approaching we may experience a delay in travel dates, however this is a “normal” delay for Russia because of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Russia usually slows down from the middle of December to the middle of January.

Please call me if you have any questions and I will be able to help you anyway I can. Please address your documents questions to Denise and she will be happy to help you with that while you are working on your documents.  Together we make sure that all of our families’ questions get covered and we are happy to help during this process.

Sincerely,
Anya Rutherford

CHINA

Dear China Families,

We hope that you are enjoying the fall so far!

It has been very quiet from the CCAA since the holiday closing. There is no information on referrals, LOAs(letter of acceptance), TAs(travel approval);, etc… But, we have been receiving PAs (pre-approval) for special needs adoption from the new CCAA list as well as CWA’s Hope lists.

The three referral families are in China right now and things are going smoothly so far. We also have 4 Hope families that are flying to Beijing right now. Please say a prayer for them for a safe and smooth trip. We have several families that just returned from their trip last weekend.

Besides these, there is not much going on in the program right now. So, I am going to end this message now; it is a way to let you know that you are not forgotten. We have been thinking about you, always.

Take care of yourself!

Jane and Mei

ETHIOPIA

That is a huge sigh of relief that you hear from the Ethiopia team now that the first families have successfully passed court and launched the process for another term of court! With a new judge on the bench, a new head of the adoption team for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and all the re-organization training that has taken place, we look forward to seeing how smooth the ride will be. We anticipate that families with approved court hearings in October will probably begin traveling before the end of 2009. So, this is an excellent time to remind you of several things:

· CWAE cannot schedule your court date until we have confirmation of USCIS approval. Please send your case manager a copy of your I-171-H or I-797 as soon as you receive it!

· When making reservations with a guest house, be sure to confirm which payments can be made using a credit card and which payments must be made in cash. Also check with them regarding fees for additional services, including whether they provide nannies if parents want to make a short excursion and need child care. The Ethiopian Guest Home was extremely popular with CWA families last year and they have provided the following information for those who anticipate staying with them:

“After speaking with the our staff who have spent a good amount of time with CWA staff in Ethiopia, we would like to offer CWA families free transportation at two different, predetermined times during the week or so that families stay with us. The two different times would be a shopping excursion and a dinner excursion.

As we have two drivers on staff at Ethiopia Guest Home, agencies and families can feel secure knowing we do not use just any taxi or driver that happens to be available. With the disproportion in transportation costs in Ethiopia, two full time drivers are extremely expensive (those two employees cost more than 10 other employees)…which requires us to charge for transportation services.

We have adjusted our transportation rates to accommodate families who need a short trip in addition to those requiring a half day and full day. The new entire fee structure for transportation is:

0-1 hour $10

1-2 hours $20

Half Day $40

Full Day (4+) $60

Scheduled (1) CWA Shopping trip Free

Scheduled (1) CWA Dinner trip Free

Families are welcome to use our transportation at other, unscheduled shopping and/or dinner excursions at the standard rate as well”.

· Please be sure to notify your case manager if you become pregnant, or bring another child into your family at any time during your adoption process! We will work with you to make sure that your adoption is appropriately timed to allow the necessary bonding process to take place within your family.

· Be sure to sign up for regular notices from Amharic Kids (www.amharickids.com). They offer a wide variety of products to keep you and your child in touch with your child’s heritage. A 2010 Ethiopian Calendar is now available for $11.99; a “politically neutral” 3/5 foot Ethiopian flag is $9.99.

· Culture tip of the week: Who would have thought that serving your Ethiopian-born children a salad would make them cry? One new mom was totally baffled with this behavior. A bit of investigation revealed that in some regions of Ethiopia, feeding a person raw vegetables is considered an insult! (It is like telling them they are an animal). Of course, the basis for this is that food needs to be cooked for sanitation purposes.

The same mother asked that we remind families about the possibility of Reactive Attachment Disorder. Many of these children have seen things unimaginable to us as Americans. They may have been raped, beaten, gone hungry, observed death up close – all from a very young age. They are going to need parenting that can be very different from what you have used with your other children. CWA will soon be offering a special training course, “Beyond Consequences,” to address this need.

· Just a reminder that medical and social background information in Ethiopia is collected by Non-Supervised Providers. Medical resources are 3rd world standards and test results cannot be guaranteed to be reliable. Please refer to Step 7a, “Home With Your Child,” in the Ethiopia Planner to begin familiarizing yourself with recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics on screening tests for your child once they are home.

The Ethiopia Team

Patricia, Sue, Ben, Emily, Michael and Angie