Orphan Hosting Blog - Page 8 of 13

Chaperone Host Families Needed!

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Our Winter Hosting Program is well under way, and the children will be here in less than a month!

We still need some amazing volunteers to help contribute to our Orphan Hosting Program – we are most especially looking for volunteers to serve as Chaperone Host Families.

It is completely free to be a Chaperone Host Family. All you need is a spare bedroom and an open heart! You have the option of hosting a chaperone for either two or four weeks, which is half or all of the hosting program. It’s a great opportunity for you to meet the amazing caregivers and translators who are here to support the children throughout the program. It’s also a neat opportunity for the chaperones to visit America and learn our customs around the holidays.

Our chaperone from Latvia knows English, and she needs a host family in the New York area. If you live in New York or one of the adjacent states and would like to host Laura, please email Cayce at cayce@childrenofallnations.com. We also need host families for our China chaperones in the Tennessee, Illinois, California, and New York! If you’re able to host a China chaperone in one of these areas, please email Shannon at shannon@gwca.org.

It’s through your service that we are able to help the amazing children of the Orphan Hosting Programs! If you’re ready to become a Chaperone Host Family, you can start your FREE application here!

Can I Host?

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There are so many questions that revolve around hosting. Am I ready? What if I’m not interested in adopting? What if I am? What do I need to host? What do I need to provide? Question after question – and we have the answers for you!

For general eligibility, many of our programs are similar. As a general rule, families should be the following requirements:

Citizenship: One parent must be a U.S. citizen.
Age: Generally between 29-60 years old, depending on the country and the special needs of the child, if any.
Marriage Status: Single women and married couples are generally eligible in both countries, and single men can be considered on a case by case basis for Latvia.
Criminal History: Applicants with a criminal history of child abuse, violence or domestic violence are not eligible to host
Health: Host parents must be in good health with no major medical or psychological concerns.

But there are often bigger questions that aren’t so easy to answer with a general eligibility check. What do I need to have? Do the children come with clothes? Should I take off work?

The children need to have their own bed to sleep in while with a host family. Many of the children share a room with a sibling of the same gender – this actually may be comforting to the children, as many of them will never have slept in a room alone before. If you’re hosting a child and you have no other children, consider keeping a nightlight in the room to comfort them when they sleep.

Many of the children will come with few to no possessions, so host families should be prepared to provide clothing for their host kiddo while they’re here. Gently used hand me downs and thrift store finds are a great idea – taking a host child shopping once to pick out their very own clothes is a great bonding idea.

The biggest concern we see with eligibility is work during the program. Since the children in our hosting programs are not proficient in English, they cannot be watched under day care or day camp services. They also come from institutions, either orphanages or foster homes, so going back into what they will see as another institution can feel like abandonment all over again. Host parents are asked to take the majority of the hosting program off of work in order to spend time with their host child. Host parents also can reach out to extended family (host grandma and host grandpa!) for help periodically. Every adult who is in charge of a child must have a background check on file with Children of All Nations, and host children can never be left unattended or in the supervision of a child under the age of 18.

If you have eligibility questions about hosting, we would love to help! You can get your hosting questions answered at info@orphanhosting.com or call (512) 323-9595 to ask to speak to a Hosting Coordinator today!

Hosting Tong

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Zhao Tong came to America in 2014 for GWCA’s Holiday Hosting Program. During the four weeks that Zhao was here, his host family grew to love him very much, and they began working on the paperwork to bring him here forever! Now, less than one year later, they are getting ready to complete the final steps of the adoption as they travel to bring him home. Read their story about deciding to host this amazing kiddo, and how it has changed their lives forever!

A Seed is Planted

Several weeks later I was abruptly awakened from a deep sleep to sitting straight up in bed to someone calling out “Mom”. Jamie & Jayden always call me Mommy and they come running in to our bedroom if they want me. Troubled, I got up and checked on them and they were sound asleep. In the morning I told Jeff about the voice I heard. No comment from him. I told Jeff I really think God wants us to do this. He responded well God needs to show me too.

About this same time Justine and Jenna our older daughters started asking us when we were going to go back to China and adopt another child. I shared my dreams with them. They were convinced it was what God wanted us to do. So they started asking Jamie & Jayden if they would like another brother. Jamie and Jayden said definitely “NO”. Jayden listed reasons why not; 1. There is no room for him to sleep at our house. 2. He would break their toys. 3. He would fight them. 4. They already had a brother, Jerus. No new brother was coming to our house.

In December Jeff shared with me a dream he had. In his dream, he was out to eat with some people for work. Someone asked him how many children do you have? Jeff answered 5. Then a little boy sitting next to him grabbed his sleeve and said “What about me, Daddy?” Jeff was beginning to believe God wanted us to adopt but brought up Jamie & Jayden’s reluctance to having another brother. Jamie & Jayden were still always answering NO to talk of a new brother.

In January as we sat down to eat Jayden says out of the blue, so if we did get another brother where would he sleep? How old would he be? What kinds of things could he do? As I answered each of his questions he and Jamie would look at each other and then he says what do you think Jamie, let’s get a new brother. Jamie agrees with Jayden and then looks at me and says “Wow what made us CHANGE OUR HEARTS.” God finally got our entire family on the same page.

In the summer of 2014 we learned about Great Wall China Adoption’s (the adoption agency we had used for Jamie and Jayden) winter hosting program. This is where a family has a child from an orphanage come and live with them for four to six weeks. The time period for hosting was mid-December to mid-January. So in September of 2014 we set off on a journey to host a boy from China.

Great Wall China Adoption (GWCA) Hosting Program

Meeting Zhao Tong

Who the heck is Conrad

Tong came with a variety of stuff from China. Besides the suitcase of clothes he was carrying on his back he had two pairs of snow paints, an extra winter coat and a huge bag of snacks in his backpack. There is one thing about Tong that became pretty obvious right away, he loves to eat. He quickly learned about when dinner time was and he was always promptly sitting in his seat at the dinner table waiting for the food to be served. We can’t really describe him as overly chunky, the best description came from our niece Kaesha Koch. She described him as “a big marshmallow you just love to squeeze”.

Tong quickly learned some key words in English, “NO” was very easy for him and he used it frequently. He also jumped on the diet coke bandwagon with “cola”. He had “cookie” down in less than a day and he loved to add his finality to our dinner prayer with the loudest “Amen” we have ever heard. We think he might have translated this to mean “let’s eat”. He quickly taught us his favorite phrase “wan wanju” translated “play with toys”. One of our biggest surprises came when we gave him a piece of paper and a pencil. He promptly returned the paper with the English letters A to Z written in proper sequence 15 times. We learned he has an infatuation with the English alphabet, his favorite letter is “L”. We found a DVD about the alphabet and when the DVD came to the letter “L” he would get all excited. We had an electronic game that was shaped like an apple that has all 26 letters as keys. While our other kids played on their iPads he had his own apple type electronic game.

One of the first days in Omaha we gave him a coloring book and some colors. He colored the page then wrote “Conrad” at the top of the page. This became common place every time he did something with a pencil, colors or markers he wrote “Conrad” on each page. In fact one day he wrote “Conrad” 25 to 30 times on a piece of paper then repeated this on four more sheets of paper. What was he trying to tell us? At first we were a little concerned that Conrad was some subtle message he was trying to send us like “redrum” from the little boy in “The Shining” . We tried writing it backwards but it didn’t make sense ”darnoc”. After some additional investigation we found a Christmas card in his backpack that was for our family signed Conrad. We then talked to his chaperone and learned that in some orphanages they give the Children an English names to practice when they are writing in English, I guess he was just showing off.

Highlights from Our Time Hosting Zhao Tong

Tong was with us from December 13, 2014 through January 12, 2015. When we picked him up in Chicago he didn’t really know any English spoken language. We relied on pointing and a couple of iPhone apps to interpret for us and him. There where so many wonderful experiences we had with him. We observed a shy compliant little boy who did everything we directed him to evolve into this wonderful child who has a stubborn streak and a smile that will melt your heart.

The hosted children are not told that they are coming over to America to be adopted. They are told they are coming to the US for a vacation and to learn English. We decided we wanted to make sure Tong had the full experience while he was here. We set out on a plan to do as many Omaha fun things as we could fit in.

We went to the Omaha Zoo where Tong became infatuated with the penguins. He did not want to leave their exhibit, he could have stood there all day watching them. We think he enjoyed the rest of the animals but nowhere near his love for the penguins.

We took him swimming at Lifetime Fitness where they have a zero depth pool. Jeff carried him out to the deeper water and Tong immediately put the death grip on Jeff and wanted nothing to do with being in the water if he could not touch with his feet. After about 30 minutes sitting in a chair he finally got enough courage to go back in the zero depth section. This is something we will have to work on with him to fit into this water loving family.

We took him ice skating out at Mahoney State Park which was ok except for the fact he wanted nothing to do with wearing ice skates or being on the ice. Luckily there is huge indoor playground which he loved and spent hours climbing, sliding etc.

We went to Okoboji /Minnesota for the Christmas holidays. We stayed at our condo in Okoboji and went to Big Twin Lake (Trimont MN – Janell’s family) and Amber Lake (Fairmont MN – Jeff’s Family) When we picked Tong up in Chicago we had already decorated our Christmas trees in Omaha so we put up and decorated a Christmas tree in Okoboji with Tong. He had his own special way of decorating which included putting all the ornaments on one branch.

While we were at Big Twin we took out the ATV’s and gave him a ride which he loved. We had a light snowfall one day and he liked catching snowflakes. He is not a big fan of the cold though and quickly learned that word “COLDDDDDDDDDDDDD.”

We made Christmas cutout cookies with him which he loved both making and eating. We also played a lot of card and board games with our whole family. We would help him out on some occasions and a lot of time he played just fine on his own. We got him to ride a bike with training wheels and he loved to swing on our swing set. He also loved playing the piano. He would press the keys very gently and smile

Our whole family had a great time with him. Justine got to spend a long week with him and Jenna was at home almost the entire time.

The Decision

We started the hosting program thinking we might want to adopt another child. We spent a lot of time talking about the possibility of getting another child and sibling for our five kids. All of our kids were sold on the idea except for Jayden, our 9 year old. He is the youngest and does not want to give up his youngest child position. We thought the hosting program would be a good trial for us and especially for Jayden to see what it would be like, kind of a rent to own program.

Things did not start off as well as we would have hoped. There was little interaction between Tong and our youngest two kids especially Jayden. As we approached the third week we started to wonder if this was going to work. Tong was having a great time and we had a great time with him but the relationship between Jamie, Jayden and Tong was not as we had hoped.

On that weekend we went to the Omaha Children’s Museum and things just started coming together. We saw our two younger kids interacting with Tong. We then went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch. Going out to eat with our family can be a disaster, but not this time. Tong did great, Jayden was helpful we started to see how Tong fit into our family.

When we got home that afternoon Janell received a note from a friend in the mail. The note included the following bible verse, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world James 1:27.

Well, our decision was made.

As the next week drew to a close we got a little sadder every day, we knew we had to send Tong back to his orphanage in China. The day before Tong was supposed to fly with Janell to Chicago to meet the rest of the hosting group for the return trip, his chaperone called. He told Tong that he was going back to the orphanage. Tong gave the phone to us went upstairs packed his backpack and came down ready to go.

We really didn’t know what to think. Tong didn’t really have any emotion as we said goodbye to him as he and Janell headed to the airport. Did he have any feelings about us? They flew to Chicago and met the rest of the Hosting kids that were headed back to China. Janell waited with the group for about an hour and then it was time for her to catch her flight back to Omaha. She went to Tong gave him a hug, said good-bye and started to walk away. He suddenly realized what was happening, he grabbed her and started to cry and yelled “No Mama”, and then she started to cry. One of the volunteers with the group helped pry Janell loose from Tong’s grasp. Janell reluctantly headed to her gate, crying, hearing Tong’s wailing as she walked away.

Ok God, if we weren’t sure about our decision before, we were now.

Why Does Hosting Cost?

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The Cost of Hosting:

Application Fee: $250

Hosting Fees: $3150-$3450

Gently Used Clothing: $50

A Child’s Smile: Priceless

One of the most common questions we receive from families: “Why does hosting cost?” We know it’s the biggest obstacle for families to participate, so we want you to know exactly what the money goes to.

All of the costs of hosting go toward sponsoring the children’s travel to the United States. This means their travel approvals, their actual flights, and the insurance (yep the kiddos have insurance!) while they are here in the states. In essence, families sponsor a child’s travel here to the US in order to spend time with a family. All costs are tax deductible, and families receive a letter from our office for tax purposes. Families are providing humanitarian aid to a child in need!

The cost of hosting depends on the program:

$3150 Latvia
$3250 China
$3450 Philippines

The differences in cost reflect the different flights prices per country.

There is a great thing about our hosting costs – many of the costs of hosting cover some of the expenses of adopting a host child. With our hosting program, the hosting application doubles as your adoption application, meaning families don’t pay a second fee to another agency to begin your adoption process.

That also means that the ball doesn’t get dropped when a family decides they want to adopt their host child. You don’t get passed on to another agency that doesn’t know you. Our staff is in direct contact with our agency’s adoption staff, and we walk you through the process every step of the way.

Hague Training, which is a requirement for all families choosing to internationally adopt, is also included in the cost of hosting. This saves families time and hassle down the line as they prepare for adoption.

The tax deductible letter is available for all families in reference to payments made for the hosting program. This is a humanitarian service to these children, and we want to help in any way we can. We know that hosting costs each and every family, but the experience of hosting a child is one like no other. If you’re ready to start the journey, contact us at info@orphanhosting.com today!

What It Means to Age Out

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What do you mean
“age out?”
What happens when
they turn 14?

This is a question we hear over and over as we speak with families about the older children in our hosting program. The answer to the question is complicated, difficult, and heart-breaking. In our China program, children “age out” of the orphanages at age 14, in Philippines and Latvia it is age 16.

On the face of it, this means that the children are no longer available for international adoption, but the reality is, when the children in our programs reach this age, this is often the end of the line. The day these children turn 14 or 16, their hope for a forever family flickers out. What is most unfortunate, as these children get closer and closer to this aging out deadline, there are fewer and fewer families stepping up to prevent the bleak life ahead of them.

For the lucky ones, children are allowed to stay on and work at the orphanage. They may help cook meals or serve as a caretaker for the other, younger children still at the orphanage. They work as they watch their younger friends get adopted, knowing that is now a permanent impossibility for them.

For the not-so-lucky, they are turned out of the orphanage, sent to look for work in a local village or a nearby city. In many cases, the children who reach 14 or 16 are simply never heard from again. Human trafficking and child labor is a real issue that many of the children we serve face as they grow older, and we are unable to protect them once they reach their age deadline.

If you’re ready to help an older child find their family through hosting, contact us today. These are the faces of the children in our program who are nearing “aging out.” We can stop a life of work at 14, of begging on the street at 16, and a future with no family to call their own.

Hosting Volunteers Needed!

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We did it! We have completed the matching for our Holiday Hosting programs, and we’re so excited to begin preparing families for the arrival of our sweet host children. However, we still need your help! We are currently looking for both Backup Host Families, and Chaperone Host Families. This is your family’s opportunity to make a difference this holiday season, by opening your doors and welcoming a guest!

We are currently in need host families living in or within driving distance of Houston, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, New York, and Chicago. If your family is interested, apply online or contact info@orphanhosting.com today to learn how you can get involved!

5 Things We Want You to Know About Hosting

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The hosting team works with the children in the hosting program day in and day out – we come to love each and every child on our photolisting, and we care passionately about whether or not they find a family. Below are five things we want every family to know about why hosting is so important.

1. The Children Are Older

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We get a number of inquiries about hosting children who are under the age of 6. While children of this age are also searching for their forever families, children over the age of 6 are the best served by hosting. Children ages 7 and up are hard to find families for – these are kiddos who sit in orphanages and foster homes and watch while their younger friends find a family. Hosting is an opportunity for these children to come to the United States, stay with a family, and show potential parents here that a 9 year old is not so scary, that he or she deserves a home, too.

From a practical perspective, children under age 6 struggle with the travel and adjustment much more than older child. The hosting team always tries to put it in perspective – imagine yourself as a 4 year old, put on a plane the first time with a number of other children you may not know, taken to a strange place where everything looks, smells, and feels different, and then a stranger tries to hug you. We’d be terrified, too! It’s very difficult to put a child this young through this type of travel, so hosting is most beneficial for children who are emotionally ready to handle travel.

2. Every Child is Perfectly Imperfect

We want every family to host or adopt a child that is best suited to their family – the best fit for the family is ultimately the best fit for the child, too. Families should do their research, be prepared for a medical need, and be aware of the emotional extras that being an orphan comes with.

Whether or not children have a medical need, each child we work with is perfectly imperfect. Whether it’s hearing loss or a history of abuse, these children have a “need,” on the most basic of levels, their need is that they have been neglected. You might read in your host child’s file that he isn’t doing so well in school or she is afraid of hugs – what we want to stress is that this doesn’t mean that child will ALWAYS do poorly in school or shy away from hugs. What it does mean is that he’s never had a parent to sit down and help with homework (or he was never given the opportunity to go to school at all). She may have never been hugged before, so the idea of someone coming at her with open arms is scary. No child is perfect, but we can help them through their little imperfections with patience and time. Your host child may warm up to the one-armed side hug after a great meal or ask you to read to them after a year of being home. It is these amazing milestones that show us these children all have potential – we just need to show it to them.

3. Boys Boys Boys

Our experience in orphanages, particularly those in China and Philippines, has been one of overwhelmingly boys in need. We get questions often about why there aren’t more girls on our photolisting for hosting. Simply put, girls are more likely to be adopted at a younger age, and boys are growing up in the orphanages. Hosting is a great way to serve the 7-14 year old boys that deserve a chance at a family.

We want to encourage families to consider hosting a boy. For many of our boys, they really only have two “special needs” – they are an orphan…and they are a boy. Every program we see healthy boys go unchosen for hosting; let’s change that for them!

4. Hosting Costs

There is a cost to host, and we completely understand that it’s the biggest obstacle for most families to participate in the program. All of the costs of hosting go directly towards the children’s travel – from processing their documentation, to ensuring they are healthy enough to travel, down to the plane tickets to get them here. Host families sponsor the travel of an orphan to come here to spend time in the US. This cost is tax deductible because you are providing humanitarian services to an orphan in need. You’ll receive a tax deductible letter from our office!

We strongly encourage all families to fundraise – some families have not only been able to fundraise the cost of their hosting experience but put money towards their host kiddo’s adoption as well. Here are some great ideas that have worked for host families previously.

5. We are real people!

When you’re considering adoption, it can often feel like we are the big agency that is the face of all the paperwork and costs that you have to trudge through in order to get your child home. However, we love and adore these children (almost) as much as our families do. For the hosting team, this is particularly true because we have met each one of the children. We remember faces, favorite colors, and cute things our kiddos did during the hosting interview.

We’ve also watched our families come together through the hosting process, and we’ve seen the change that hosting brings in each child. We’re there at the airport, stressed and worried about each flight getting here on time and each child safely landing. From the kiddo who is terrified to leave his chaperone on arrival day to the child who lovingly hugs his host mom and dad before he leaves, we watch each one of these moments and fall in love with hosting all over again. We’re here with you every step of the way, and we want you to know that we care!

New York and New Jersey Families – We Need You!

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Children of All Nations has just received approval from the Philippines to expand our hosting program to include families living in New York and New Jersey! This means that we are now able to work with families living in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and Georgia! This huge. We still have some incredible kids waiting. Now is your chance to give the gift of family!

If you or someone you know is currently living in one of these approved states and may be interested in hosting a child this holiday season, call us today. Families that apply before October 15th will receive a $250 gift towards their hosting fees!

During Business Hours:

(512)323-9595 ext. 3101 or (512)323-9595 ext. 3102

After Hours and on weekends:

(512)323-9595 ext. 3094

$250 Hosting Gift Today Only

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In an effort to make sure each child has the opportunity to spend this holiday season with a family, today EVERY CHILD on our Orphan Hosting Photolisting has a $250 gift toward his or her hosting costs. (Any child who already has a scholarship will receive the $250 in addition to their current scholarship.)

Any family who applies before 11:59 pm this evening (11.14.2015) will receive $250 off their second hosting payment. We want as many families and as many children as possible to have the opportunity to connect, to love, and to feel the joy of family this winter!

To get started, visit our photolisting to find your host child, send us an email at info@orphanhosting.com, or start your application NOW! There are a limited quantity of these gifts available, so start today on your hosting journey.

We Were Abandoned (Scholarships Available)

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It’s the other “A” word in the adoption community. No matter what country, most of the stories we hear about the children we serve begin with the same word – abandoned. Whether they were left at birth or left as an older child, the heartache we feel for our children is the same. The children in the photo above all represent a story that begins with abandonment.

Many families wonder how this abandonment affects the children, especially the older children, of our hosting program. The tale of The Survivors, two brothers from the Philippines, is one that clearly demonstrates the pure hearts and resolves of these orphans. E & A are 11 and 13 – like so many of the children we see, they are small for their age. At ages 3 and 5, they were abandoned by their mother after their father’s death. The children briefly spent some time in the care of a local family before they were placed in the orphanage. The children in orphanages simply do not get the nutrition they need to grow, so E & A are small but sweet.

E&A didn’t only earn their nicknames from surviving abandonment – they were at the orphanage when a typhoon hit the Philippines. E was treated for exposure to the water, and A managed to climb to safety across a cable wire. They were 7 and 5 years old.

From her trip in the Philippines, our director sent email after email about these two boys in particular. “Have they found a family?” “We must find them a family.” “Look at the video of the boys doing martial arts – aren’t they cute?!” “These boys need a family.”

They deserve somewhere to call home, someone to say they matter, and someone to tell them the word abandon will never be a part of their story again.

They don’t just need a family – they deserve a family. These are boys that would thrive with the love and affection a family could give them. Older brother E makes friends with everyone and helps his younger brother fit in. Little brother A loves to read, which means he’s doing well in school, and best of all he loves to be hugged. According to their social worker, these brothers long to be a part of a family. Despite everything they have been through, they are able to love and long to be loved in return.

If you’re ready to make a home for E & A, there is a $500 scholarship available towards their hosting costs. Contact our hosting staff at info@orphanhosting.com to find out how we can change abandonment to adoption and start a better life for these two children.

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