Weekly Update

Agency News
Official America World Blog
Friday, March 07, 2008 marks the official start date of America World Adoption’s official blog! America World is excited about this new opportunity to further help families obtain up to date information on any changes in programs as well as new developments within the company. As is such, this is officially the last Weekly Update. In order to view America World’s blog, simply click on this link, or go to: http://www.awaablog.org.

Personnel News
America World is excited that in light of the past year’s growth in the Ethiopia adoption program, it has become necessary to hire a new family coordinator who will be coming alongside Duni Zenaye to assist families with their adoptions. Terra Bailey officially started this past Monday, March 3, and has begun her intensive training to assist Duni.
Christi Hicks will be leaving AWAA on March 14th. Christi began working with America World in March 2005. She’s continually adapted to the changes resulting from America World’s growth into new countries, and has served as a China Family Coordinator, Assistant Eastern Europe Program Director, and most recently, as our Latin America Program Director. America World and its families have been greatly blessed by Christi’s tireless efforts to work with the Salvadoran government on behalf of that country’s orphans. She will be greatly missed.
In response to the changes in the El Salvador program, Katie Spencer, who has been the Post Placement/Intake Administrative Assistant for the past year and half, will be splitting the responsibilities of El Salvador Family Coordinator and Post Placement Coordinator beginning March 17th.

Missions Trips
There are still spots open on the Visiting Orphans trips to Ethiopia this summer! Go to Visiting Orphan's website to learn more or to sign up.

Events
"Spirit of Adoption" Seminars
Seminars will be conducted on Saturday, March 8th in St. Louis, MO; Denver, CO; Milwaukee, WI; and Indianapolis, IN. Next weekend, March 15th, seminars will be held in Cincinnati, OH; Baltimore, MD; and Albuquerque, NM. We would like your help in getting the word out about these informational seminars. Talk to your church about promoting seminars near you via projected announcements, bulletin text and flyers. Also, be sure to invite those who may be interesting in adoption or wanting hear more about what God’s Word says about adoption! If you can distribute seminar promotion materials, please email our PR Department. You can get seminar details or register for a seminar near you at America World's Events page or by calling 888-ONE-CHILD.

Steven Curtis Chapman – Spring 2008 Tour
Steven will be in Fayetteville, AR; Spartanburg, SC; Chattanooga, TN; Rock Hill, SC; and Macon, GA next week! Steven will be taking song requests for each city on the tour—a first ever! This will, again, prove to be a great evening so invite your family and friends and enjoy “An Evening With Steven Curtis Chapman”. Tickets are on sale now…all concert details are available at Steven's website.

Change For Orphans
Shaohannah's Hope is continuing their "Change for Ophans" campaign at the Steven Curtis Chapman concerts this spring! Remember to bring your loose change to support adoption in your community.

Adoption Fellowship Groups
March Groups are meeting in Oviedo, FL; Salisbury, MD; Branson, MO and Atlanta, GA. For information about Adoption Fellowship Groups, visit the Events page. Fellowship Groups are a great way to connect with other adoptive families in your area and to learn more about adoption from families who are going through the adoption process or who have already returned home with their children! The Groups are open to anyone adopting or considering adoption regardless of the agency. For more information email Mike Stone.

China Program

Referral Matching
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with their office before January 04, 2006.
America World’s next Log in Date (LID) is 1/6/06.

Wait Time
The current wait time from LID to referral is 27-28 months with the trend of increasing by roughly a half to a full month every month.

Dossier Review
The CCAA has completed the review of all adoption application documents registered in their office before October 31, 2006.

Waiting Children Program
The China Program is excited to announce that the “Special Needs Program” will now be called the “China Waiting Children Program.” This program title change better reflects the children available for adoption through China’s Special Needs Department. Children referred through this program may have special needs or may be a healthy older child.

China Waiting Children Program
As a result of the program’s name change, the name of the Special Needs Yahoo chat group was changed on Monday, March 3rd to the AWAA Waiting Children Yahoo chat group. America World families interested in joining this group can click on this link, click “join this group”, and follow the instructions: Families who received the Waiting Children Program Guidelines should note this change in the guidelines.

Referral information and pictures for the America World’s waiting children listed below are available for review. Families can call 1-888-One-Child or email waitingchildren@awaa.org and a Family Coordinator will be happy to provide additional information on these children. There is also additional information on shared referrals available for adoption that a Family Coordinator can discuss with families who are interested in learning more about these children. Please also join America World in praying that God may call forward forever families for the children listed in bold below.

• Seth is an independent and friendly 13 year old boy. He has a congenital limb deformity where his left arm is missing from the forearm down. He attended the Hope Journey summer camp in July 2007 where America World staff met and interacted with him. (DOB: 1/13/1995)
• Nathaniel is an introverted yet confident 12 year old boy. His special talent is that he is artistic and good at calligraphy. He attended the Hope Journey summer camp in July 2007 where America World staff met and interacted with him. (DOB: 9/5/1995)
• Liam is a healthy boy who will soon turn 12 years old. He is described as active, polite and popular (DOB: 1/7/1996)
• Andre is an active 8 year old boy. He is diagnosed as having “post-operative bilateral renal pelvis and ureter stenosis plasty” and ametropia of both eyes (DOB: 10/29/1999)
• Jonathan is a friendly and outgoing 9 year old boy who has club feet and hands that are deformed (DOB: 2/13/99)
• Dylan is an active, helpful, and clever 6 year old boy who has a developmental delay (DOB: 7/19/2001)
• Andrew has an active personality and who is 5 years old. He has been diagnosed with congenital exophthalmos (protrusion of the eyeballs) and is reportedly normal in intellectual and physical development (DOB: 12/14/2002)
• Joey is an independent and shy 3 ½ year old boy. He has received surgeries to repair both his cleft lip and palate, and also has scoliosis (DOB: 4/2/2004)

Please help America World in advocating for these children by praying for them and notifying family, friends and church communities that these children are available for adoption. America World trusts in God’s perfect plan for these children and for families as they continue on their adoption journey.

El Salvador
In March of 2009 the El Salvador government will elect a new President. According to the El Salvador constitution the country cannot re-elect the current President. Therefore, current President Tony Saca will leave office at that time. For more information on this upcoming election you can visit: http://www.electionguide.org/country.php?ID=66 and http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/937/74/.

Ukraine
America World currently has families in country, waiting for court and reviewing referrals. America World continues to wait for further news from Ukraine on second appointments for waiting families.

Kazakhstan
America World had two families finalize adoptions of girls this week. One family was able to have their 15 day waiting period waived, which is unusual for Kazakhstan. America World rejoices with these families. America World would strongly encourage families seeking to adopt boys to apply for Kazakhstan as boys are more readily available than girls at this time.

Russia
America World currently has five families in Russia; four finalizing their adoptions and one family in country for the first trip. Two America World families accepted their referrals this week for two boys and one family received their court date. A total of four families are preparing to travel to Russia next week. America World continues to see movement among the various regions and will keep families informed with any news or progress. America World would like to ask for prayer for the staff in country as they work to provide referrals, travel, and court dates for families.
America World would strongly encourage families seeking to adopt boys to apply for the Russia program.