The Long Wait, Rules and China's concern for its children

People who submitted their dossiers to China (really the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA)) two years ago are still waiting. This is tremendously frustrating and can even be frightening. While the reasons for the wait are not at all clear and there is much speculation, some possible reasons can be discerned or guessed at.

This document from the CCAA, dated October 31, 2007, offers a few glimpses into an other wise dark area (see Priority rules in the review of inter-country adoption application dossiers by CCAA). Although the purpose of the document is to lay out new rules restricting the adoptive parents in international adoptions of children from China, it offers a rational not just for why the rules were changes, but also for the slow down of placement of children.

In a nutshell the documents states "[a]t present, the number of adoption application documents that the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (hereafter referred to as CCAA) receives is increasing very fast. However, the limited number of Chinese children available for inter-country adoption is far from being able to meet the demand of families from overseas. The CCAA maintains, in accordance with the principle of protecting the best interests of children in the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (hereafter referred to as Hague Adoption Convention)" and goes on to state the new requirements (which are, of course at this point in 2009, no longer new).

There is a subtext to this part of the document: that there are not a lot of children, or at least fewer than the world wide demand, available for international adoption. It is important to remember that the Chinese people adopt children 'in country' just like we do here in the US. These internal adoptions take precedence over international adoptions. There are Chinese couples who are unable to have children biologically, just like here.

I have no data on this and I intend to continue researching it, but I make the following speculations:
1) The number of internal Chinese adoptions has gone up recently as urban income has risen.
2) That the so called "one child" rule has produced a secondary effect of making it culturally undesirable in certain segments of Chinese society to have more than one child. By this I mean that people are now having only one child more from cultural pressure or assumptions that from the force of law.
3) If the above is true, it seems reasonable that there is also a segment of Chinese culture in which it is not unheard of to opt for adopting a child instead of having a child biologically.

If the above are true, and going under the assumption that the original document represents the real situation in China, there is no reason to expect the wait times to come down significantly.

As I mentioned above, I intend to continue researching this, so stay tuned.

Dave Basener
basener@asianbridgestaff.org

Action needed on vietnam Adoptions

This comes to us from The Joint Council on International Child Services :

Dear Families, Friends and Colleagues,

Senators Landrieu and Coleman, along with other Members of Congress, are continuing to show their support of ensuring every child’s right to a permanent, safe, and loving family. As part of their commitment, they will be forwarding a letter to Nguyen Tan Dung, the Prime Minister of Vietnam. This letter will encourage Vietnam’s continued participation in negotiations related to the new bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption. The letter will express Congressional support for the continuation of intercountry adoption and will emphasize the importance of the transition to a Hague-compliant system and a new bilateral treaty.

Between Monday, January 5^th and Wednesday, January 7^th, individuals can support this important initiative through the following methods:

• Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to sign the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam regarding the future of intercountry adoptions from Vietnam. Also, note that if they are interested in signing, they should contact Sarada Peri from Senator Landrieu’s office (Sarada_Peri@landrieu.senate.gov) by Wednesday, January 7^th. For a list of Senators and Congressman that have signed the letter as of the time of this writing, please see below.

You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and email address at www.senate.gov

You can find your Representatives’ phone numbers and email address at www.house.gov

• Send a notice of support (and ensure that you receive updates on this initiative) via the Joint Council website. To do so, you will need to follow the steps below:
  • Click here to go to Joint Council’s Webpage. Please note that this is a donation and sign-up page. This initiative is not an appeal for a donation.
  • Once on this page, please click, “Sign me up for Joint Council news.”
  • Under the communications preferences, select the drop down menu for “Newsflashes and Updates"
  • Click “Sign me up.”
  • Fill in your information
  • Under the comment section type “Letter to Vietnam Prime Minister.”

Joint Council will also be forwarding the names of individual who contact us to Senators Landrieu and Coleman.

• Contact your friends and family encouraging them to join the effort. Please feel free to forward this email to all interested parties.

The letter to the Prime Minister can only be successful with your help!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joint Council staff via advocate@jcics.org

Please note the following Senators have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:

Senator Landrieu

Senator Coleman

Senator Oberstar

Senator Lincoln

Senator Lautenberg

Senator Menendez

Senator Kerry

Senator Johnson

Senator Bill Nelson

Senator Akaka

Senator Roberts

Senator Murkowski

Senator Durbin

Senator Klobuchar

Please note the following Representatives have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:

Rep. Jim Oberstar

Rep. Scott Garrett

Rep. Jerry Costello

Rep. Joe Pitts

New 'blog master'

Hi. I am Dave Basener, Director of the China Adoption area at The Asian Bridge.

I have taken over the Asian Bridge blog from Dina Ackermann. Dina has moved on to other work and I am very grateful for the work she did on the blog. It is much easier to come into something already set up.

Good Luck Dina

The Anglers Atlas

HIGH ON ICE Bundle up and head to Fort St. John, BC for the annual “High on Ice” winter festival and ice fishing derby. Watch extraordinary international ice carvers carve their masterpieces at the fifth annual event! It’s a fun filled weekend of entertainment, activities, dancing, an ice cafe and of course - an ice fishing derby on Inga Lake! On January 17 and 18, 2009, Inga Lake will be the site of the High on Ice Fishing Derby. Head out to Inga Lake for fun, prizes and some great fishing. You can pre-register at Backcountry Sports in Fort St. John, or register at Inga Lake itself during the event. Entry is free and prizes will be awarded in different categories for kids 16 and under, and adults. Bring your own gear and fish from dawn to dusk on Saturday, and dawn to 2:00pm on Sunday. Inga Lake is a great family fishing spot. There are plenty of shore casting opportunities in the summer, and catch rates are high. Inga Lake has been designated one of the Family Fishing Waters in the BC Freshwater Fishing Regulations. Young anglers may have good luck using small lures baited with worms or maggots. Standard flies such as microleeches and doc spratleys tend to do well in the lake. Each year the lake is stocked with 10,000 rainbow trout, usually released in June. Historically, the lake had been stocked with brook trout, however this was not continued beyond 1996.

EVENT ADVERTISER
Splease visit our sponsorsBackcountry, Fort St. John, BC. Jackfish Dundees Pub, Charlie Lake, BC.

ANNOUNCEMENT
Welcome to Backcountry in Fort St. JohnGear up for the 2009 “High on Ice” fishing derby, at Backcountry in Fort St. John, BC. The event is free to attend and anyone can pre-register for the event at the store. Backcountry is one of BC’s largest hunting, fishing and outdoor supply stores. http://www.backcountryfsj.com/

ICE FISHING AROUND PRINCE GEORGE
There are several popular lakes around Prince George for Ice Fishing. Here are three popular lakes: Eena Lake, Cobb Lake, and Tabor Lake. Don't forget that Ferguson Lake was stocked with one to pound rainbow trout in June and September, 2008. Keep watching the Angler's Atlas this spring as we continue to feature fishing opportunities in this region. For detailed information about fishing this region, drop by Northern Hardware and talk to Dan Moffat.

ANNOUNCEMENT
Northern Hardware and Ice FishingVisit Northern Hardware’s new website, and check out their fishing page. Better yet, come by the store and talk to Dan Moffat for all your ice fishing needs - rods for entry level to professional anglers, gas powered augers, jigs, hooks and lures galore… They have everything you need for your ice fishing adventure.

INTRODUCING U.S. LAKES AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS
More than 200,000 waterbodies in the United States have just been added to the Atlas database, and topographic maps are available for most of them. Visit our Map Search page to find a US lake, reservoir or dam.

COLDWATER BOOT CAMP
http://www.coldwaterbootcamp.com/ – Most of the water in Canada is cold year round and cold water is a major contributor to recreational drowning deaths. Nine volunteers offered to jump in with both feet and experience first hand what happens in 6 degree Celsius water. Visit the website and join Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht (aka Professor Popsicle) in the classroom to learn about his 1-10-1 formula for survival in cold water. The video featured here is titled The First 60 Seconds, and there are five videos in the series. All are freely available online at www.coldwaterbootcamp.com/pages/downloads.html. Boot Campers - Who were they? The volunteer Boot Campers came from across Canada and were chosen because of their excellent health, involvement in rigorous outdoor physical activities whether recreationally or professionally, and an expectation of their survivability in cold water.

PHOTO CONTEST ENTRIES
We’ve received many great photos for the 2009 contest, and below are a few of the entries. Click to see all the photos entered. Better yet, enter your favorite fishing photo today!
sabiangler - This is the main put in on the north western side of the lake, difficult launching area because large rocks are in fairly deep water. I discovered a better put in a little to the south on the other side of the point you can see in this picture.
tyleruzelman - Caught this picture when we went fishing at Mound Red just South of Edmonton.
blairwood2001 - This golden Chinook measured out to 42 lb. Another beauty from the Charlottes.
dickiderm - This bruiser was caught and released from an unknown lake north of Haynes Junction, Yukon, summer 2006. We’ve received many great photos for the 2009 contest. Here are a few of the images provided. Enter your favorite fishing photo today!

UPDATED ALBERTA AND BC MAPS
Alberta’s Yellowhead County - Eastern Slopes Zone ES4 B.C.’s Peace Region - Region 7B

Early Winter Steelhead...BC Style

Rivers like the Bulkley, Kispiox, Bell Irving, Kitimat can yield some awesome steelhead fishing. I think the photo says it all.

Bow Moose Hunting

Now this guy has a lot of courage, I'm not sure I could stand there for that long..........never mind not laughing my ass off.......

Cougars In Ontario

With all the attention/discussion/rumors etc. regarding cougar sightings in Ontario. I thought I would post this article. Rumor has it that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources actually released some cougars into the wild to help control the deer population. Now don't get too excited, if you can confirm or deny this rumor...please by all means lets get it out in the open. Now further to my last statement, I have had conversations, read news articles about actual sightings and photos, tracks etc. If you have information with actual photos, sightings etc. I'd be glad to post the information here on my blog as well as on my website. If you have confirmation/documentation regarding the OMNR releasing cougars, I'd definately like to see that too. If I receive any responses, I'll definately post them here. Feel free to leave your comments. The cougar in the photo was from British Columbia and was shot as it had killed two horses.