Still more info from today

Our trip to the Civil Affairs office went very well. The director from Chloe's orphanage was there along with the Nanny that cared for her. We were able to find out some more information from them about the orphanage. They said there are 12 children that live there and the oldest one is 10 years old and has special needs. They said the old orphanage had to move because the city of Fengjie was going to be flooded from the Three Gorges Dam. So they built a new orphanage in 2006. But they only began the process to get registered with the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) within the last year. They seemed to indicate that all of the children there, maybe with the exception of the 10 year old with special needs, are now available for international adoption.

My heart was a little broken for this lovely man and the very kind nanny because Chloe and Kate were the very first children to ever leave the orphanage. And because they are such a small orphanage, both of the girls knew the director very well. You could tell that he loved them very much as did the nanny. They told us (through our guide) that they were happy the babies were going to be adopted because they believed they would have a better life. And they said that we seemed like very kind families. And they said they would very much like it if we would tell our girls as they grow how much the people at the orphanage had loved them and to tell them about China, their first home. They said the girls were welcome to come back and visit at the orphanage when we come back to China.

I asked the guide to tell the Director that Karin and I planned to set up a Yahoo group for the Fengjie orphanage. This way, the Director could get on the computer and hopefully see pictures of the girls in the future. And all the children who will be referred from the Fengjie orphanage in the future could join the group and stay connected in that way. I actually got a little choked up when we left the Civil Affairs office because I knew that Chloe would not see them again for quite a few years. One day we will definitely bring Chloe and Lia back to Chongqing but that won't be till Chloe is old enough to handle such a long trip.

Julie had a separate meeting this afternoon with the Nanny from her orphanage so I'm sure she will get on my blog later and talk about what she learned and share some of her pictures.