Chinese Children Adoption International has formed Haitain Adoption Program

Here is an annoucement from Lily Nie, CCAI Co-Founder:

In the years since we started our China adoption program, people have often asked us, “Why China only? Why not other countries?” Our answer has been simply that we are Chinese, and we want to meet the desperate needs of abandoned Chinese children.

Then one day last month, Linda Kohn, founder of For His Glory (FHG), approached us with an urgent request. Her orphanage, or crèche, as it is called in Haiti, is caring for 130 children from newborn to 14 years old. She has to refuse admission to more than 80 children every month due to a lack of space. Would CCAI help find adoptive families for some of these children?

I didn’t know much about Haiti before I met Linda, and I was shocked when I learned that:
· Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
· Haiti’s unemployment rate is over 60%
· Haiti’s literacy rate is under 50%
· Haiti’s life expectancy is 57
· Haiti’s infant mortality rate is 12%

I decided to embark on a fact-finding trip and went with Linda to Haiti last month. What I saw was indescribable. Growing up in China in the 60’s and having labored for over 16 years to serve abandoned children living in the darkest corners of Chinese society, I was still unprepared to comprehend the overwhelming poverty and suffering right before my eyes. I will never forget the line of almost a dozen parents and their small children standing outside the crèche. I learned that those parents, with no financial means whatsoever, had been waiting there for many days with the hope that the crèche would help them by taking in their children….

This suffering broke my heart.

I returned with both tremendous sadness and strong determination. I realized that CCAI can no longer sit on the sidelines as a China adoption specialist. We must partner with FHG to find loving homes for some of those very beautiful Haitian children waiting in the crèche. So here we are, to present to you our Haiti Adoption Program.

Haiti adoption is very different from China adoption:
- China’s socio-political situation is more stable, and Haiti’s is less predictable;
- With China adoption, families are matched with a child after a lengthy wait, while the Haiti program usually matches a child or children first and families receive their child(ren) 22 - 24 months later (FHG-arranged visitations prior to finalization are permitted);
- China allows one child to be placed for adoption at a time (except in the case of twins/siblings), and the Haiti program allows multiple children adoption;
- China allows only adoption by married couples, while Haiti allows adoption by both couples and single women; and
- China is a Hague adoption country, while Haiti is not.

We encourage interested families to carefully review our Haiti Adoption information at www.haitiadoption.org.

While CCAI is excited to announce our new Haiti adoption partnership with FHG, CCAI’s focus and concentration has been and will always be China adoption and charity outreach. To ensure that those committed to China adoption will continue to receive undivided attention and service from us, we have established a separate CCAI Haiti Adoption Department, headed by our Director of Adoptions Judy Winger and teamed with FHG’s founding director Linda. Judy’s email is info@haitiadoption.org.

“Ultimately, adoption is not about us; it is about the children; it is about valuing human life and making a positive difference.”

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Lily Nie, CCAI Co-Founder