President's Message

Last Revised: 10/1/2007

A preface to the response to the FCC open letter from the CCAA from the presidents of the FCC Chapters of Greater New York, New England, Northern California and Southern California.

Dear FCC Members:

The Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs has responded to the open letter sent from the FCC Chapters of Greater New York, New England, Northern California and Southern California and subsequently co-signed by several other FCC chapters representing over one thousand additional FCC members.

We are extremely pleased to have received any response at all. When we wrote the letter, we hoped to receive an official response but did not necessarily expect to receive one. Frequently a Chinese government agency would not issue such a response except to a similar-level government agency. The fact that the government felt our letter warranted a response at all appears to be an indication of the respect and gratitude the CCAA holds for our community. To the extent that you may disagree with the views of the Chinese government or their analysis of appropriate placement guidelines, we do ask you to bear in mind that there appears to be great reciprocal respect for our community despite the differences of opinion between our community and that of the CCAA.

We have had the letter translated by two different people familiar with the Chinese adoption program and also had those translation reviewed by others who have extensive experience in the field. The translation(s) that we have posted represent our best efforts to render a faithful translation. Any errors, of course, belong to us. (Translation 1, Translation 2, Mandarin original)

A translation, however, can only go so far. When you read the letter we ask you to consider the following points:

• Although the tone may strike many American readers as overly formal and bureaucratic, this is normal for written communications from Chinese government agencies.
• Our goal was to provide feedback from the FCC community and to demonstrate our concern about the children of families now considered ineligible for adoption in China. From the CCAA's detailed response it is clear that our letter was carefully read and considered.
• We had no expectation that FCC would affect a change in China's policy. The letter confirms that the CCAA is comfortable at present with its prioritization. While this is bad news for those who have lost eligibility, it is good news for those who feared that any criticism, no matter how diplomatically couched, would jeopardize adoptions already in process.
• We hoped to receive further detail on the rationale behind the policy changes, and this letter does provide some greater explanation, especially with respect to single parent eligibility. The explanation is unlikely to bring comfort to those families no longer eligible for adoption and those of us who support them, but it does explicitly put on the record some information that had thus far been only speculative.

In closing we would like to thank those who have helped us to better understand the CCAA's response. We are also deeply grateful to the many, many FCC members who have emailed us. No other topic has engendered such a response from our members. The constructive feedback provided a new window into the diverse perspectives of our member families, yet underscored the true sense of community that we share from coast to coast. Your heartfelt words have touched and inspired us.

To all who have participated in this process, both in China and America, we express our heartfelt gratitude. The Chinese adoption program is undergoing one of its most profound changes since the program began. Over the last 15 years, we have seen many changes take place, and there may be other changes in the future. Families with Children from China values all its children and all its families - each and every one of them - and will continue to do so. Even as these changes may occur, we will keep faith with the diversity of FCC families all over the world.

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URL: http://fwcc.org/FCC_Presidents_Cover_Oct_2007.htm