A Warm Welcome in Austin!
We are happy to announce that all of the kids in our China Orphan Hosting program have arrived safely!
After a long day of traveling, our last group of host kids made it to Austin, TX late Thursday night, where they received a warm welcome from both their host families and GWCA staff members! This is the very first time that a hosting group has flown into our hometown, and it was such an amazing opportunity for us to meet the children and families who are participating in our Orphan Hosting program.
Throughout this hosting program there will be children living with host families all across the United States. This program will give each child the opportunity to know the love of a family with the hope that they will soon have one of their very own. While some of the families in our Orphan Hosting program have already decided to begin submitting their adoption paperwork, others have joined the program with the intention of advocating on behalf of their host child with the hope that another family will step forward to bring them home forever.
Advocate Families
Every year our advocate families blow us away with their dedication to helping their host child find a Forever Family. They create advocacy Facebook pages, they engage with their communities and they spread the word about their host kiddos, providing potential adoptive families with a wealth of information that is generally not available when adopting a child who hasn’t been hosted.
If you’re interested in adopting one of that host kids that’s currently being advocated for, visit our advocacy page to see their profiles, or contact our hosting coordinators today!
Follow Their Journeys
Over the course of the next four weeks there will be host kiddos living with families all across the United States! Every family’s journey is unique, and we absolutely love following them through photos, videos and blog posts! We will be sharing updates throughout the hosting process, so be sure to check back at our blog regularly!
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The kids in our Orphan Hosting program will be arriving THIS WEEK! Each group of kids is accompanied by a chaperone, one of the social workers from their orphanage. These incredible ladies all need a place to stay while the kids are here. We search for volunteer families to open their home to these hardworking incredible women for at least 2 weeks out of their stay. This comes at no cost to the family other than accommodating a guest in their home.
The only area we are still seeking a chaperone host family for is SEATTLE! If you or someone you know is living in or around Seattle, WA and would be interested in hosting one of our Orphan Hosting chaperones this winter, please contact our hosting coordinator, Shannon, at shannon@gwca.org today!
Please contact our Hosting Coordinator Immediately, if you or someone you know might be interested. We must find these volunteers right now!
512-323-9595 EXT. 3101
shannon@gwca.org
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In the midst of National Adoption Month, we are so excited to announce the launch of our NEW website design! This change has been underway for the past few months, and we are so happy to share that each site (GWCA, CAN, Orphan Hosting and Student Ambassador Exchange) has now made the transition.
What’s new?
The Appearance
The site has a new clean cut appearance, but don’t worry, the content is all still there! So whether you’re looking for information on one of our programs, reading our latest blog posts, or visiting our photo listing to request a child’s file, love the speed and convenience of the new layout!
Browse On-The-Go!
It’s now easier than ever to browse our websites on your cell phone or tablet! The new layout adjusts to the size of your screen so you don’t have to worry about zooming in or out to find the right tab.
Sign up for our newsletter!
If you’re interested in receiving emails from GWCA, CAN, Orphan Hosting and SAE, you can now sign up by simply scrolling to the bottom of one of our home pages and entering your email address!
While our newsletters are a great way to stay in the loop with our adoption programs, we encourage any families that are ready to begin their journey to contact our matching specialists directly. You can do this by filling out a contact form, emailing info@childrenofallnations.com, or calling us at (512)323-9595.
Take a look around:
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Each year we have so many incredible families that advocate for the children in our Orphan Hosting programs. We like to think of these families as #OrphanWarriors, as many of them dedicate weeks, months or even years their lives to helping Waiting Children find loving families. This host family, however, considers the children the superheros in their story, as each child they welcome into their family changes their lives forever.
Below is the latest blog post from this family. They have just signed up for our winter hosting program, and are preparing to welcome Joy –a superhero with an extra special chromosome– into their family for the holidays!
When a family stepped forward to not only adopt but also HOST Lin, the winter superhero we had thought we would be hosting in just two short months, our family rejoiced.
With Lin’s beautiful forever family submitting the initial paperwork to bring him home, that made 132 million orphans in the world … minus one.
But it left our family with a void. There is nothing we wanted to do this Christmas more than love on and host a superhero who needed a VOICE. Without Lin as our winter superhero, we didn’t know who we should become advocates for.
We had tried to host the two oldest girls on the hosting list.
One girl already had a host family.
We had tried to host an older girl and a 3-year-old boy.
There were issues with the sweet girl’s file, and she became unavailable for hosting.
We had tried to host the 3-year-old boy, who we had nicknamed “Lin” after part of his Chinese name.
My sweet childhood friend stepped forward to both host AND ADOPT HIM!
Supersoldier, the man I admire and respect so much, requested that OUR BOYS, not we, look through the files of the children still available for hosting and pray about who needed an advocate most. Because frankly, after watching God perform miracle after miracle throughout Superman’s adoption and DJ’s hosting experience, both Supersoldier and I have somewhat of a reckless (if that’s possible) trust in God to provide WHATEVER it is we need to support a superhero-in-waiting. Diagnoses and delays on paper don’t scare us. And with Supersoldier’s training as a physician assistant, no medical needs on the list concerned us very much. So he wanted our boys to be the ones to pray and choose and decide. As host brothers. As fellow children. As valuable members of the orphan advocate team.
After looking over and praying about the remaining children on the hosting list, the boys selected four children they thought most needed a voice and who would fit best among the personalities of our home.
One of them was under review by another family.
One of them was the top choice of an incredible woman and now friend who ATTENDS OUR CHURCH (AND WHO, in a crazy move only God could orchestrate, IS NOW HOSTING this superhero this winter! WHICH MEANS WE’LL GET THE PRIVILEGE OF PLAYING WITH HIM ANYWAY!).
Two 7-year-old children, both with Down syndrome, remained on our superheroes’ carefully selected and highly debated Top Four.
One was a boy, one was a girl. Both were absolutely precious.
And, because the boys were at school and the husband was unavailable when I received the full information for each, I confess that I watched this little girl’s video in the parking lot of Superman’s occupational therapy appointment, fell in love with her, sent the video to my mama, who also immediately fell in love with her, and emailed back the hosting coordinator that we had decided on the girl.
Yup, me, myself and I. Totally plural.
Clearly, I told them later, Jesus wanted to gift me with estrogen this Christmas. Even my dog is male. This was my unapologetic, I-absolutely-rigged-the-system, this-sweetheart-is-more-precious-than-a-million-dollars-and-I-want-to-take-her-to-the-Nutcracker confession.
And I don’t even feel bad about it. 🙂
So this winter, we are not hosting two 11-year-old girls.
We are not hosting an older girl and a younger boy.
We are not hosting a 3-year-old boy.
We are actually now hosting a 7-year-old girl who we are all totally smitten with who just ROCKS OUT her extra chromosome and SPARKLES in all our eyes. (And yes, my mama is already planning a hand-sewn Christmas dress.)
Meet Joy, our NEW winter superhero, coming to a Cuthrell home near you from December 16-ish through January 15-ish this year!
Warning: This video may cause a SERIOUS desire to adopt. Watch with care. And watch your heart melt before your eyes. <3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYp7sIuxmvfQkg5Y0J6RHR0Q3c/view?usp=sharing
JOY — what we see in her eyes and what we KNOW ALREADY she will be. A perfect advocate name for a perfect girl whose Chinese name also has three letters and starts with a “J.”
And what a SEASON for JOY!
JOY TO THE WORLD! <3
#changejoysstory #changetheorphanstory
Resources:
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One year ago this beautiful girl was listed on our Orphan Hosting photo listing with the nickname “Miss Happy.” When our interview team met her in China, they were captivated by her incredible smile and her playful spirit. She was excited to play dress up, and show everyone her drawings, but behind her smile was a girl who was holding on to hope. She was hopeful that meeting with these strange people and answering their questions might lead to something new – something outside of the orphanage.
Last winter, Miss Happy was matched with an amazing host family and she had the opportunity to come to the United States to live with them for one month over the holidays. She had the chance to see life outside of the orphanage and she had the opportunity to experience the love of a family.
Now, less than one year later, Miss Happy’s host family is in China preparing to bring her back to the United States and welcome her home forever. Although we’ve simply been following their journey through photos, it’s clear that Miss Happy has already gone through a huge transformation. While her smile is still as big as ever, it has changed in so many ways. It’s the smile of a beautiful girl who finally has the opportunity to be carefree. After years of worrying and waiting for a family to come get her, she finally gets to relax and be a kid, because she’s not “Miss Happy” anymore – she’s Celia Stark. She is a daughter and a sister, but most importantly she is loved.
Celia will never have to spend another holiday season longing to be part of a family, and she will never spend another birthday worrying that she’s one year closer to “aging out.” The days ahead of her hold so much love and so many firsts, and we can’t wait to continue following the amazing journey that began with Orphan Hosting.
There are so many children in China that spend their lives waiting. They are overlooked not because of choices they’ve made or because of things they’ve done, but because of their age or their special needs. These kids are INCREDIBLE, and our Orphan Hosting program gives families the opportunity to get to know them, not as they’re described in their medical file, but for who they really are.
We are currently matching children for our upcoming winter Orphan Hosting program, and we’re so hopeful that these kids will have the same experience that Celia did. If they are hosted this winter, they may never have to spend another holiday season in an orphanage. Our host families play a huge role in helping these kids find families, whether they themselves adopt their host kid, or whether they advocate on their behalf. There are only a few days left to be matched with one of these amazing kiddos, so if your family or someone you know is interested in learning how you can become a host family, contact our hosting coordinator at shannon@gwca.org today! Together, we can end their wait.
Congratulations Celia, and safe travels home!
Resources:
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I was innocently browsing through Facebook one day this fall when I saw the post. “Host families needed” it read. Intrigued, I clicked on the link and quickly requested a password to see the profiles of the waiting children. One smiling face stood out and I was immediately drawn in. I called and received more information over the phone and the anticipation set in; the anticipation of having a familiar conversation with my husband. “So, I was on the internet today and I saw this little girl…” it began. We agreed to host Ya Ya over Christmas and advocate for her.
We drove through the night that cold December morning and arrived at O’Hare airport before the sun rose. We met with some of the waiting families and soon, a group of children, led by chaperones started towards us. And there she was! She was much, much tinier than we had imagined, full of smiles and not afraid. I motioned to her and she came right over and gave us hugs. Our 9 year old daughter gave her a doll and she latched onto her right away. She was amazed by everything around her, automatic flushing toilets, doors that opened on their own, everything was new and exciting.
We arrived home and were greeted by the rest of the family. Ya Ya immediately was drawn to our son, Ashton, who shared something in common with her, Down syndrome. They became good buddies over the month she was here. Ya Ya was sweet, gentle and kind with him. She fit in very well with everyone, after a few initial struggles between her and our almost 3 year old son. I believe he thought she was much closer to his age as she was so small. Once they (he!) worked out their “differences,” all was well!
Ya Ya fit in amazingly well! Everyone around us wondered how she would adapt, how would she understand us, what if she is upset, how will you communicate with her??? We used Google Translate and she understood very well! She is very expressive and we could tell by her reactions if she understood or not. Her English was pretty limited, but that did not stop her from playing and interacting. She enjoyed showing us that she could count in English and liked to use the phrases that she picked up. We discovered her love of dancing around the second week here and dance parties were a regular happening around here!
Ya Ya is bright, inquisitive and catches on quickly. The fact that she had Down syndrome really wasn’t a concern of ours as our son has Down syndrome. She could do far more than we imagined! She was completely independent with her personal hygiene; showering, brushing teeth, getting dressed, combing her hair she did all by herself. Honestly, I think she trumps our 9 year old when it came to taking care of that independently! She enjoyed playing with dolls, our play kitchen, coloring and painting. Her artistic “skills” were a bit lacking, but she played well with toys.
As our visit drew to a close, I found myself panicked and a bit weepy thinking about sending her back “home.” After some discussion, we made the decision to move forward with adoption. It just felt right, especially after being able to see how she fits in with our family. I have to admit that while she was here, I found a message board discussing hosting programs. Several people posting on the site were aghast that children with Down syndrome were being brought over as part of the host program. They wondered how they would understand what this was all about and how would they react when it was time to go back? I can say first hand that she handled it great! We started talking about going back to China about 10 days before her departure. We talked about how excited her friends would be to see her and that she could share her new things with them. At the airport, she played and interacted with her friends while waiting for the plane. When it was time to go, she gave Baba a big hug and boarded the plane waving with a smile on her face. We are so grateful for this experience and for this ray of sunshine we will now have in our home forever!
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This #ForeverFamilyFriday we wanted to acknowledge all of the kids from China and Latvia that have been matched for our upcoming Holiday Hosting programs! While each child has to return home after their hosting trip, this program plays a role in helping them take one step closer to finding their Forever Families.
Reviewing files can be overwhelming, and it’s easy to assume the worst when reading a diagnosis that’s listed in medical terms. The reality, however, is that many children’s needs can fall anywhere on a spectrum from very mild to more moderate or severe. This is where hosting steps in, to put a face and a personality to what was once just a medical file. By spending a month in America with a host family, these kids have the opportunity to experience the love of a family, and our host families have the opportunity to help change a child’s life forever.
There are still several children in need of host families for the winter. Will you help a child take one step closer to finding their Forever Family? Visit our Orphan Hosting photo listing today to learn how you can be matched!
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Hooray, we are so incredibly excited to announce that a family has started submitting their paperwork to bring this beautiful girl home FOREVER!
She came to America with our Orphan Hosting program earlier this summer, and her host family had an amazing time with her. These experiences played a huge role in her advocacy, as both her host family and our China matching specialists were able to provide families with first hand information about her personality and development!
While there are still several steps in the journey ahead, we are so glad that this time when she lands in America, she will be doing it with her loving family by her side. Congratulations from all of us at Great Wall China Adoption, we can’t wait to see you come home!
We are currently matching families for our winter Orphan Hosting program. If you’re interested in learning how you can welcome an orphan into your home for the holidays, visit our Orphan Hosting photo listing today, or contact our hosting coordinators at shannon@gwca.org! Will you give the gift of family?
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Not only did orphan hosting change the life of our superhero-in-no-more-waiting; it changed our FAMILY’S lives FOREVER. And now, after spending four weeks with a superhero who BLESSED us and CHALLENGED us and changed our PERSPECTIVE and CHANGED OUR HEARTS, we can’t wait to make hosting something we do every year. <3
Maybe you’ve never considered orphan hosting.
Neither had we.
Maybe you feel totally inadequate to advocate for a child so in need of a forever family.
So did we.
Maybe you worry that you might just fall in love with your superhero.
So did we.
And it changed HIS life and OUR life and ALL of our stories in ways that will have impact for years to come.
Love is worth it. FOREVER FAMILY is worth it. YOUR SACRIFICE to host a child who has never experienced the unconditional love of FAMILY is WORTH IT. Because YOUR SACRIFICE leads one DESERVING CHILD to a FAMILY he can be a part of FOREVER. That family could even be YOURS.
One less orphan in the world — that’s WORTH it.
Every time we announce that we are hosting a child in our home for a month to advocate for him, I receive messages and emails and texts and questions about how this all works and why we choose to do it. These are the questions we receive most frequently. And these are our honest, f’real answers. Even though it’s an imperfect system, orphan hosting, we believe from the bottom of our hearts, is worth the COST, worth the TIME, worth the TEARS.
What is orphan hosting?
Orphan hosting is an opportunity to host a child who has no parents and is legally available for adoption in your home for one month. Most of the Chinese children were abandoned at birth and have medical needs. These children come from orphanages and foster homes where they’ve been waiting, in some cases, for a DECADE for a forever family to call their own.
Because of their age or medical needs, they have not been able to be placed in their home country, and they have so far not found international families to call them “child.” Hosting gives them an opportunity to EXPERIENCE the love of forever family, gives them an opportunity to SHARE their stories and faces and personalities with a family who can then share them with the world, and it gives them an opportunity to receive medical exams, eye exams and dental exams that they may have rarely or never had before. This, then, allows potential adoptive families to receive FULLER information in these kiddos’ adoption files, and that significantly increases their chances of being adopted. Because potential families get windows into the personalities, current medical needs and current medical status of each kiddo.
And when FILES become FACES — of orphans you see with host families at farmers’ markets and at church and at the library and around town — it’s no longer easy to just forget about or ignore their plights. They become PEOPLE, not profiles, and their personalities and their stories and their sweet spirits get under the skin. Out of RELATIONSHIP, families step forward, and lives are changed.
Orphan hosting gives a FACE and a VOICE to a superhero-in-waiting. Host families get the PRIVILEGE of BEING those voices. For their host children. And for the 132 million superheroes around the world who still wait.
Do the children know they are coming to the United States to be advocated for? Do they know future adoption is an option?
In our particular hosting program, the children are told that they have been chosen to travel to the United States for an international camp. Their nannies and chaperones prepare them well for the fact that this is a one-month experience, not a lifetime experience. Throughout the hosting month, the chaperones check in and ask about “camp” and remind them how much time they have left before they return home.
In order to reinforce this camp experience, we called our home “Camp Cuthrell.” We also introduced ourselves to our summer superhero as Ayi (auntie) and Shu Shu (uncle), which allowed us to serve in a fun, auntie-like camp counselor capacity throughout his time with us.
Host families are actually not even allowed to use the “A” word with their children or around them. In fact, we printed up business cards to hand to friends and family who saw us at church and in public that read, “PLEASE ask us about adoption. Please just do not ask in FRONT of DJ. Instead, email us at this address.” This allowed us to ADVOCATE for him on social media and on the blog and in person while not discussing the concept of adoption in front of him or around him.
We found that DJ was very well prepared to return to China and was asking about his “feiji” (airplane) every night for two weeks before he returned. He thanked us for our “camp” and left with a memory book of his month in the United States.
How did you “advocate” for your child while he was here?
We chose to both blog about our superhero and share his story, photos and videos frequently on our social media account. We also handed out business cards sharing his information and story to everyone we met. In the age of social media, one photo, one video, one personal story can reach THOUSANDS of potential families. You never know who might be waiting on the other end of a computer screen to meet a son or daughter.
Advocating was as simple as sharing this sweet superhero’s story.
How much does orphan hosting cost?
As of September 2016, the cost of orphan hosting is $3200 plus the $250 application fee.
Hosting and adopting are both so expensive — how will we ever get the funds?
Some host families created and sold t-shirts to raise the funds. Others held baked sales. Others held lemonade stands, garage sales or simple Go Fund Me pages. Here’s how God provided EVERY DIME for our adoption of Superhero 3:http://michellecuthrell.com/blog/2016/5/11/leaping-over-adoption-obstacles-in-a-single-bound?rq=superman.
How did you decide to start hosting a child in your home?
http://michellecuthrell.com/blog/2016/5/20/introducing-dj-how-you-can-change-the-story-for-a-superhero-in-waiting
Why do you host? Is hosting really in the best interests of the child? And other answers to frequently asked hard questions:
http://michellecuthrell.com/blog/2016/6/7/hosting-a-superhero-in-waiting-addressing-the-hard-questions-about-orphan-hosting
I thought there were mostly healthy girls available for adoption in China. Why are most of the kiddos available for hosting and adoption boys with medical needs?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/asia/china-orphanage-children/
What does it mean to “age out” of the Chinese adoption system? What happens to these children when they turn 14? Why is finding them a home before this age so urgent?
http://www.lwbcommunity.org/adoption-of-older-children
How did you communicate with your child when he was here?
We primarily used hand gestures, pictures and Google Translate. However, we found Google Translate to be an unreliable app (we’re pretty sure our 10-year-old superhero did NOT ask us for a gigolo). Several families suggested other apps that cost $5 – $15 and were much more reliable throughout their hosting experiences.
By the time he left, our host superhero could speak several words and phrases in English, and he could understand a large portion of what we said, even though he couldn’t speak in full sentences back to us.
Play is a universal language and the one we used most frequently.
What were your biggest challenges as a host family?
Honestly, hosting our summer superhero was such a blessing that even the challenges were joys to tackle together. Perhaps our biggest challenge was getting our summer superhero on our time zone. Since it was a 12-hour time difference from his home in China to ours, it took him a good week to finally start sleeping through the night and waking during normal hours. Which meant that the first week of 2 a.m. wake-ups were a bit exhausting.
The language barrier was not as much of an obstacle as I imagined, since children pick up new languages so easily, and gestures and sign language helped bridge the gap.
What advice do you have a for a new host family?
The child you receive at the airport is NOT the child you send home one month later.
DJ was so overstimulated and overwhelmed by our culture, our home, our toys and our environment that, for the first week, he simply ran from object to object and item to item, exploring, experiencing and enjoying. He was like a toddler who looked more like a ping pong ball, bouncing from one thing to another at the speed of lightning, than a 10-year-old boy.
After one week, he adjusted to the time zone, realized we were going to feed him regularly and understood that all these toys and play things would still be available to him the next morning. He slowed his frantic and curious pace considerably and began to rest and RELATE to all of us — something he had no time or energy to do in his first week in our home because of all the fun and crazy distractions.
It was at that time that he really started BONDING with our family … and demonstrating affection.
Although the child who arrived in our home was one who woke up at 2 a.m. and raced through the house touching everything but US, the child who LEFT was one who just wanted to be cuddled, carried, held. Who craved the benefits and entitlements of being part of a FAMILY.
Hosting a superhero-in-waiting was one of the most amazing things we have ever been blessed to be a part of. And WE would love nothing more than for YOUR family to join OURS on this journey! To drive to international airports with us. To eat with us. To hold Chinese-speaking play dates where we enjoy pot stickers and garlic and onion sandwiches and all force through the mess that is Google Translate while we watch in awe as these incredible and resilient kiddos overcome obstacles and blow us away with their ability to LOVE.
By God’s grace, we CAN help change the orphan story, one deserving child at a time.
Check out the orphan hosting list at http://orphanhosting.com/orphan-hosting-photolisting/. Apply for an instant password that comes straight to your email box, and then view the faces of the superheroes who are dying to call YOU Ayi and Shu Shu this year.
To find out more, email Shannon Phillips at Shannon@gwca.org.
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