Use Goodsearch for Your Holiday Shopping and Help ASIA
Posted: December 10, 2007

Holiday Shop Online and Help ASIA 
Every time you shop from GoodShop.com and make a purchase, ASIA EARNS MONEY! The more you shop, the more we make! Add up the money generated from all of your shopping and the shopping done by all of the other people who use GoodShop, and we can make a real difference for ASIA.
 
Simply go to www.goodsearch.com and click on the GoodShop link or go to www.goodshop.com. In the “Who do you GoodSearch for” box, be sure to choose "ASIA- Associated Services for International Adoption (Portland, OR)"
 
Next, click through to the partner retailers and start shopping! A percentage of your purchase will go to ASIA. The amount donated is different for each retailer but it averages approximately 3% of the total sale and can go up to 20% and beyond (the percentage donated is indicated below the merchants logo). The total amount raised can quickly add up and the sky is the limit. The more people shop through GoodSearch, the more money will be directed towards ASIA. There is no cap on how much money ASIA could raise!

Here’s an estimate of how much your organization can earn:

Charity or School Size	Number of Supporters	Average Amount Purchased/Year	Percentage Donated	Estimated Donation/Year
Small	100	$500	3%	$1,500
Medium	1,000	$500	3%	$15,000
Large	10,000	$500	3%	$150,000

ASIA Partners with Language Company for Mandarin Lessons
Posted: December 10, 2007

ASIA and company, Just Enough Chinese Now Offering Parent/Child Chinese Language Lessons for Beginners.

Learn Mandarin with your child!  ASIA and Just Enough Chinese are now offering language lessons for children ranging from 4-8 years of age.  One parent must attend the lesson with the child.   The group will meet on Saturdays from 9-10am starting January 5, 2008 to March 8, 2008.   The cost is $150.00 total for one adult and one child, however, class material must be purchased separately.  Registration deadline is December 15, 2007 but only the first 6 registrations will be accepted.  You may call 503.224.1860 or email Fei at feiyang@justenoughchinese.com  for more information.

For a flyer on this program click here (.pdf)

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1. If one parent is traveling: updated versions of forms I864 (Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the Act),
2. If one parent is traveling: updated I864A (Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member),
3. If both parents are traveling: updated I864W (Intending Immigrant's Affidavit of Support Exemption),
4. For all families: updated DS 230 (Application For Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration, I & II)

If you have any questions, please contact Fei Yang at feiy@asiadopt.org or Jojo Zhou at jojoz@asiadopt.org 

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E-Newsletter for December
Posted: December 10, 2007

TO: All ASIA Families and Friends
FROM: E-Letter from Sandra Miller at ASIA

Hello to all friends and family of ASIA!

We are pleased to report that the Taiwan Program is fully operational with a number of families in process. Please note that the website is also updated. We have added detailed information regarding the Taiwan Program and have reviewed and updated each and every page of the website (at least 75 pages in all!). There are many new photos, so if you haven’t visited the site recently, we encourage you to do so.

The China Program is still experiencing a long wait from dossier log in date to referral. Each month we post a wait update on the front page of the website. You will find “Wait Update” on your right and just above “ASIA News.” Families who received just received their referrals waited 24 months. While the wait is still long and seems likely to continue that way for some time yet, China’s program is still one of the best in terms of the physical and emotional care the children receive, along with safeguards in place that children are legitimately orphaned or abandoned.

PLEASE NOTE: ASIA will implement its new fee structure effective January 2, 2008 for both China and Taiwan. All applications postmarked December 31, 2007 will fall under the 2007 fee structure. For the benefit of adoptive parents, we have endeavored to keep the increases as low as possible – the overall average increase is about three percent.

We currently have waiting children available from both China and Taiwan. Please consider adopting one of these children deserving of a loving home and family. If you are interested in learning more about a waiting child, please contact marcisk@asiadopt.org.

We have received an excellent response to our appeal letter and we appreciate all the families who have donated. We still have a way to go to reach our financial goal, so if you have not yet sent in your gift, it’s not too late!

Our very best,
Sandra Miller, Executive Director

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New China Waiting Child List is Here
November 1, 2007

ASIA has just received a new list of wonderful waiting children from the CCAA. We hope that you will consider adopting a special needs child through ASIA. If you are interested in viewing information on these children, please contact ASIA at 503.224.1860 or e-mail Marci in order to receive the login and password information that is required to view the waiting children pages located on this site. Due to CCAA regulations, we must ask for updated information about your family each time we receive a new Waiting Child list from China.

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ASIA Completes Hague Convention Application
Posted: October 8, 2007

ASIA is pleased to announce that it has completed its Hague Convention application and review process. We, along with all other applying agencies, will be notified in spring 2008 of the results. The USCIS has sent us the following press release and questions and answers relative to the interim rule that establishes new procedures for adopted children under the Hague Convention.

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Taiwan Waiting Child List is Here
Posted: September 13, 2007

Only 1 month after announcing our new adoption program with Taiwan and we have received permission to place 2 wonderful waiting children from the Taiwan program. If you would like to receive information on these children, please contact Marci at: marcisk@asiadopt.org

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• General process for non special needs
  • Submit application
  • Prepare home study
  • ASIA submits home study
  • Complete dossier
  • ASIA submits dossierMatching
  • Acceptance of the child
  • Court proceedings
  • Travel (3 to 5 days in Taiwan)
  • Post placements – six reports over a five year period

 

U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou Clarifies Statement Regarding IR-3 Visas
Posted: August 5, 2007

Clarification from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou: They will continue to issue visas
for either one or two parents traveling. They are no longer issuing IR-3 visas if both parents traveled but only one showed up at the oath ceremony. One spouse traveling is still okay, they will issue an IR-4 visa in this case and the family will need to re-adopt the child in the U.S.

If you have any questions, please contact ASIA at 503.224.1860

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ASIA Comes to the State of Washington

Posted: April 10, 2007

WOODLAND, Wash. - Associated Services for International Adoption – ASIA – is now licensed to provide full adoption services in the state of Washington. New families who select ASIA as their adoption facilitator will work with Corinne Precourt, LCSW, for their home study and post placement reporting. Until now, families that work with ASIA have had to hire a social worker in Washington to provide these services. The Washington office is located in Woodland, north of Vancouver, and will serve all of Washington State. The remainder of the adoption process will continue to be managed at ASIA’s head office in Portland, Oregon. ASIA works with families from across the United States and with 46 families in Washington who have adopted or are in the process of adopting. The agency has facilitated more than 600 adoptions, all from China.

For further information regarding the adoption process or to speak with an adoptive family, call Executive Director, Sandra Miller at 503-224-1860.

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Use www.goodsearch.com and help support ASIA

We just learned of a simple and effective way to support the work of ASIA and we are asking for your support.  At no cost to you, you benefit by knowing that you will support the placement of orphaned and abandoned children as well as provide services for children who may need to remain in China.
 

A new search engine, www.goodsearch.com , will donate a penny to the charity of your choice for every search conducted on its website.  Simply go to www.goodsearch.com and in the second drop down box, write “ASIA”.  Click on our name and then continue with your internet search on any subject.  This is exactly like searching on other search engines like Google or yahoo, except ASIA benefits.  Below is an example of how much ASIA could potentially earn:

Number of Supporters	Average Searches per Day	Estimated Revenue per Year
100	2	$730
1,000	2	$7,300
10,000	2	$73,000

As you can see, the pennies add up quickly!   Please help support ASIA by using www.goodsearch.com for all your internet searches and choosing ASIA as your beneficiary.  We thank you for supporting ASIA’s mission to provide loving homes to children needing families

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Latest ASIA E-Newsletter

December 26, 2006

E-Letter from Sandra Miller, Executive Director ASIA

CCAA’s New Guidelines
CCAA sent out written confirmation of their new guidelines for adoptive families. They report that the number of adoption applications is increasing faster than the number of children available for international adoption. In order to protect the best interests of the children in accordance with the new Hague Convention laws on Intercountry adoption, the CCAA will give priority to families as follows:

I. Married heterosexual couples who have been married for two years or more where both the husband and wife do not have any divorces. If either the husband or wife has one or two divorces, the length of the marriage has to reach 5 years. A couple cannot have more than 2 divorces.**

II. The husband and wife both should be between the ages of 30 and 50. For the adoption of a special needs child, the couple can be up to the age of 55.

III. The couple should be physically and mentally healthy and should not have the following conditions:

CCAA’s New Fees
The CCAA has also implemented new fees beginning on January 1, 2007. In the ten years that they have been in operation, they have not raised fees enough and now that the exchange rate has shifted, they are forced to change their pricing structure as follows:

1. Dossier Fee: $620

2. For special needs children, the dossier fee will be $390 plus $150 translation fee, totaling $540.

3. All expedited cases will pay $620 dossier fee plus $200 translation fee, totaling $820.

** We are awaiting final clarification on the above asterisked points. There still is some confusion regarding the detailed interpretation. In order not to wait, however, we are publishing the new regulations with the understanding that the rules are subject to change.

The new ASIA 2007 fees will be posted by January 1 on our website. Please remember that your fee agreement remains consistent with the year you applied and signed your contracts.

Please feel free to call or email if you have questions or concerns. Everyone here wishes you a Happy New Year.

All the best,
Sandra

REMINDER: ASIA will celebrate the Chinese New Year in here Portland on Saturday, March 3, 2007. If you can, we hope you will attend. Watch for details to follow soon.

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ASIA E-Newsletter
December, 2006

Note from Executive Director: Sandra Miller
ASIA chose to provide you with the following information in order to dispel rumors and knowing the “official” written material from the CCAA may differ slightly from what was heard at the CCAA meeting December 9th. Please consider this information preliminary and subject to change as we learn more details. We will keep everyone posted throughout this process and ask for your patience as we and other agencies sort through these changes. The Joint Council on International Children’s Services is working with the CCAA now to receive formal confirmation and understanding of adoption changes. They will share this with member agencies and we will share it with you. Please do not rely on the information that comes from rumors. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call.
Sandra Miller
Executive Director

December E-Newsletter-----------------------------------

Yesterday Beijing time, ASIA China Program Director, Susan Song, attended a meeting held for staff members and facilitators representing adoption agencies working in China. This was a hugely important meeting because the CCAA laid out changes that end much of the speculation all of us have been living with over the past year.

THESE CHANGES GO INTO EFFECT FOR DOSSIERS LOGGED IN AFTER MAY 2007 AND ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN PROCESS AND SOME OF THE CHANGES MAY IMPACT YOU, WE RECOMMEND YOU MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO HAVE YOUR DOSSIER IN BEFORE THE MAY DEADLINE. Please feel free to contact Marci, JoJo, or Fei if you have questions specific to your adoption process.

The CCAA stated that they want to find "better" families for their children, improve the domestic adoption program because of growing interest and Hague Convention requirements; and they acknowledged that the population of available children is declining. (More on this later.)

* The staff at ASIA is making an interpretation of "giving priority to families" with the above listed attributes. At this time, we believe it may be possible to receive exceptions if one of these conditions is not met. These exceptions may be decided on a case by case basis. We will keep you informed as we learn more.

Other Information from the CCAA
Next year the government will implement a new five-year fundraising plan to help orphanages improve their facilities and to improve nanny training. The plan will receive 200 million RMB per year from the government budget. They will continue with their Tomorrow Plan with focus on treatment of serious special needs and rehabilitation training for nannies.

The CCAA reported the following statistics:
Dossiers Received:
2004 is 49.5% more than in 2003
2005 is 109% more than in 2004
2006 is 126.05% more than in 2005

Numbers of Orphans Available:
2004 is 3.4% more than in 2003
2005 is 10.68% less than 2004
2006 is 16.61% less than 2005

Effective January 2007 the CCAA dossier fee will be $620. Translation fees remain the same. Special needs will cost $390 for dossier plus $150 translation fee.

ASIA News on Our Latest Waiting Children Group
We placed all ten children from our most recent list. We are ecstatic and so was the CCAA. We have requested a new list and will inform you as soon as we receive and translate it.

ASIA News on Our 2007 Fees Increase
Rising costs require that we raise fees effective January 1, 2007. We endeavored to keep the increase as low as possible without compromising our service quality. So, if you or someone you know is thinking of applying to adopt, we encourage you to apply now. If we receive your application prior to January 1, 2007, you will still be under the 2006 fee structure.

For those of you in process, we thank you for your patience over the past year, as we all waited to hear what the CCAA planned to do regarding changes to adoption. Clearly the changes are going to make it impossible for some future families to qualify for adoption in China, even though they may be fabulous parents. This is sad news. However, it is hopeful news to hear that there are fewer children needing to find forever families. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all children had homes and loving families? It's an impossible dream, but a worthwhile goal for which to strive.

Let us know if you have further questions.
Happy Holidays from Sandra Miller and the Staff

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Fundraising to Benefit the Waiting Children Program
Posted: November 28, 2006

Authored by Peggy Cruise and Sandra Miller

As you may have heard, ASIA held a Lifebooks workshop two weekends ago. Cindy Probst, a nationally known presenter on the subject, led 13 participants through a thoughtful day of discussion and work on the meaning of Lifebooks. Cindy explained that a Lifebook is about the period of our child's life before they were adopted. She stressed that it is not about what was going on for us as waiting parents during that time (that is another story for our children). It should contain any and all information we know or can reasonably surmise about our children's lives before they knew us. Cindy recommended that the Lifebook be put together in such a format that the language can be updated as your child matures, adding new information as it is discovered.

As much as we think we will remember details such as whether extra clothes were found with our child, who found our child, or the name of the orphanage director, we may forget to always tell our child a particular detail that may be very important to them as they struggle to understand their history. We know so little of that time of their lives that it is important to document everything we do know or were told. We can surmise things such as the weather in the province at the time of their birth, the kinds of occupations their birth parents may have had and special talents they may have inherited from their biological parents.

Cindy told us it needs to be from their perspective and not include our bias or feelings. If there is a particularly difficult piece of your child's history, Cindy's belief is that you do not need to hide the truth, but rather explain the truth as you know it in developmentally appropriate language. The more we as parents have thought and discussed our questions together, the better prepared we'll be to respond to our child's questions as they come up. The Lifebook becomes a tool for self-understanding and a vehicle to encourage discussion between us and our children.

To learn more, you can order a copy of Cindy's book through Toni Flitcraft tonif@asiadopt.org in our office. "Adoption Lifebook, A Bridge to Your Child's Beginnings" by Cindy Probst. You can also contact Cindy directly at http://www.lifebooksource.com or cprobst@lifebooksource.com

While the parents were in the Lifebooks class, about 17 children were having fun with Chinese singing and dancing, finger painting and stamping beautiful ASIAN designed stamps onto cards. The older children helped make dumplings that we all devoured in no time at all. Deeeelicious! It was a successful day and we plan to develop several workshops for the coming year.

The following day ASIA held the Eastern Children Western Lives dim sum brunch and art auction at the Paramount Hotel in Portland. It was a small but very successful auction that netted more than $4,000 in support of waiting children and educational programming for families. There were a number of families and friends of ASIA who were unable to attend and yet sent in a donation - and for that we are most grateful.

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2007 Fee Increase
Posted: November 28, 2006

The Finance Committee under the leadership of board member Brian Felder, is working on the budget for 2007. Rising costs require that we raise fees effective January 1, 2007. Our goal is to keep the increase as low as possible, without compromising our service quality. So, if you or someone you know is thinking of applying to adopt, we encourage you to apply now. If we receive your application prior to January 1, 2007, you will still be under the 2006 fee structure.

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Latest News on ASIA Referrals
Posted: November 28, 2006

As you may know, the wait from dossier log in date to referral is currently 14-15 months for a non-waiting child. We have five excited families who received their referrals at the end of October and are now waiting for travel approvals. There are also three waiting children families making preparations to travel. Congratulations to those families who have so anxiously waited for this moment.

At this time the CCAA has not made any formal changes to its requirements nor has it made any new statements about the length of the wait. Be assured that we will pass along any new information they may send us.

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ASIA's Waiting Children Update
Posted: November 28, 2006

Nine of the ten children now have families making commitments to adopt! The remaining child has interested families and we are very hopeful that soon all ten children will have placements.

We plan to implement a new process for families interested in receiving priority viewing for the waiting child lists. We will provide all clients with ample time to complete the process for priority viewing before implementing the new policy. We will provide more details as soon as they are available.

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A Change in ASIA's Singles Applicants
Posted: August 24, 2006

Due to the already long list of single applicants that we have that are waiting for a slot for 2008, we have decided to temporary close our policy of accepting singles into our adoption program.

We are happy to clarify that this change in our singles policy does not have impact on the adoption of our waiting children. Singles interested in our waiting children are still welcome to contact us.

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New Playgroup Formed in Portland Area
Posted: August 11, 2006

ASIA families are welcome to join a new playgroup forming in the Southwest Portland area. Playtime is Fridays from 3:30-5:00pm. If you would like to join, please contact Theresa Wechsler @ twechsler@hotmail.com

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