Our other partners in India are in the process of assessing their needs and will let us know how we can best help in the near future.  For an update on other ways that CHSFS is responding to the tsunami, please click here.

22 children joined their families through our India Program in 2004.  We are still actively seeking families for our India Program and the current wait time for a child referral is between 0-6 months.  We are expecting several new referrals from India soon.  For more information about the India Program, please see the most recent update.

CHINA

CHSFS was recently honored by the China Center for Adoption Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Affairs as the model agency for its assistance to children in orphanages with special needs. A special ceremony was held by the Vice Ministry of Civil Affairs which was attended by David Pilgrim, CHSFS Vice President of Adoption Programs, and by Danling Cai, CHSFS China Coordinator. 163 children joined their families in 2004 through the CHSFS China Program.  41 of those children were considered Waiting International Children (WIC). 

The China Program information HOTLINE is updated every Monday for families and social workers to listen to at 651-255-2490. The Monthly Update is published on the website on the 15^th each month and can be accessed by clicking here.

National Geographic Ultimate Explorer host Lisa Ling examined the consequences of China's  ''one-child policy'' in a 43 minute documentary titled, China's Lost Girls.  Ling joined a group of adoptive families as they traveled to China to receive their daughters.  Social workers may find this video useful as they prepare families for adopting from China. For information regarding purchasing the video, click here.

KOREA

Madonna King, CHSFS Executive Director, David Pilgrim, CHSFS Vice President of Adoption Programs, and Mrs. Sung Cho, CHSFS  Supervisor of Korea Program, recently returned from a trip to Korea.  During their trip they met with our Korean partner agencies as well as high ranking child welfare government officials.  Despite increased international adoption resistance this past year, CHSFS should see little or no change in the number of children referred for 2005.

141 children joined their new families through our Korea Program in 2004.  45 of those children were placed through our WIC (Waiting International Child) Program.  We currently have 37 WIC referrals.  Please encourage your families to visit the WIC photo album to learn more about these children.

VIETNAM

Updated 10/6/06 -- CHSFS is considering the Vietnam program a Pilot program.  Despite the fact that CHSFS began placing children from Vietnam in 1989, the process and system that has been put into place post-moratorium is completely different and new to everyone involved.

We received our license from Vietnam's Department of International Adoption (DIA) in February 2006 and provided our first families with referrals in early May.  The first two families returned to the US with their children in mid-October and we expect more families to travel soon.

CHSFS currently expects that families will wait 9-12 months from the time their dossier is sent to Vietnam for a referral; travel is expected to be 3-5 months after referral acceptance.

Hue Pham, Program Director, divides her time between working in the US and working in Vietnam.  Among other things, while she is in Vietnam, Hue meets with DIA and other adoption officials and sits on the Project Management Unit (PMU) of each province and advocates for CHSFS families durring the matching process.   

RUSSIA

83 children joined their families through the CHSFS Russia Program in 2004 and another 38 children have been referred to families.  Families are waiting from 2-9 months for the referral of a child depending on their preferences for the child's age and gender. 

The CHSFS Russia Program continues to move forward despite the fact that there have been three situations in Russia that are impacting the adoption process.  The three situations are: 1. release letters, 2. accreditation process, 3. new Russian law.

1. We anticipate that release letters will start being issued again by the middle or end of January 2005. 

2.At this time, we still do not know when a process will be established to re-accredit agencies.  We are applying for a letter from the Ministry of Education and Science which will vouch for our good standing in the process and we anticipate being able to faciliate adoptions with this letter.

3. It has been confirmed that the Russian Duma has accepted the new amendment to Russian Legislation for the data bank.  The duration for children to be on the Federal Data bank has increased from 3 months to 6 months.  This will go into effect by January 10th. 

We have decided to continue moving forward in our program until we have a solid reason to discontinue doing so.  However, all social workers and staff are encouraged to warn families about the potential for program changes in the Russia program, which may be out of our control.  Our past experience shows that, with few exceptions, usually families in the middle of the adoption process are allowed to complete it under the system that existed before the change

We have programs in ten regions right now and are working to begin in two new ones, Vladivostok and Krasnoyarsk.  In all regions, we have a need to place some older children as well as infants.  For more information on the Russia Program, please read the most recent Russia Newsletter.

GUATEMALA

41 children joined their families in 2004 through the CHSFS Guatemala Program.  Our Program continues to expand and needs families.  Argerie Diaz-White will be attending the Focus on Guatemala Conference in Guatemala City on January 20-21, 2005.  The hope of this gathering of many agencies and governement officials is to smooth out the Guatemalan adoption process. 

Effective December 1, 2004, families applying to the CHSFS Guatemala Program will have to be open to gender unless one of the following applies:

1. They are reapplying for their second adoption through CHSFS

2. They are adotping a child older than 12 months

Families need to have their CIS approval and the dossier completed to receive a referral.  For more information on the Guatemala Program, please see the Guatemala newsletter.

ETHIOPIA

38 chldren will join their families through our Ethiopia Program by the end of 2004 and we anticipate another 6 children coming home by the end of January. 

Overview of the process: Families adopting from Ethiopia may receive a referral prior to CIS approval being issued, but certain forms in addition to the dossier & applicable fees must first be received by CHSFS. Once the referral is accepted and the paperwork is in order, we will send the dossier to Ethiopia. At that point, families generally wait about 6 weeks to make travel arrangements to Ethiopia.  The wait is slightly longer if the family is using an escort.  For more information about the Ethiopia Program, please see the most current update. 

We currently have a female sibling group available for adoption.  They are ages 4 and 7.  Please contact Jan Simon for more information.

COLOMBIA

23 children joined their new families through our Colombia Program this year.   ICBF, the government run program, has become a good option for adopting from Colombia with about a 12 month wait for referral.  ICBF has changed their age guidelines.  They are now as follows:

• Parents 25-38 years old may adopt children between 0-2 years old
• Parents 39-41 years old may adopt children between 3-4 years old
• Parents 42-44 may adopt children between 5-6 years old

• Parents 45-55 years old may adopt children 7 years  and up.

• Single men can adopt, after they are approved by ICBF, boys over 7 years old

For more information on adopting from Colombia, please read the current update.  

HONDURAS, ECUADOR, AND PERU

Peru: We continue to wait and see if the move of the relinquishment process to the Adoption Unit will increase the number of children eligible for international adoption.  We will keep you informed of changes.

Ecuador:  The Quito referral committee that met once in November and was promising to meet every Friday has not met again.  Their stated plan is to first refer children with Special Needs to families who have already identified a desire to adopt those specific children.  It remains to be seen if families on waiting lists for infant adoption with receive referrals.

Honduras:  We continue to work only with adoption of children already identified or known by prospective adoptive parents.  We are doing more and more of these, none have been completed, but families are planning to travel this month to complete their adoptions.

KAZAKSTAN

2 children were placed through the CHSFS Kazakstan Program this year.  The Kazakstan Program is open to families and single women.