Hannah & Nate's Chinese Adoption
Donation protected
Meet Hannah:
Hannah is from Hunan Province. She is 13 years old. She has lived with us since she was 9 and we are in the process of trying to adopt her.
Hannah's biological father died when she was about 1 1/2 yrs old. Her mother was left to care for 2 little girls. Hannah has an older sister who is 18 now. The mother remarried while Hannah was still small. I understand the family was very, very poor and, eventually, the mother and her husband left the girls in the village with the stepfather's brother's family and moved away to find work. Hannah thinks she was 6 or 7 at that time.
We met Hannah through our friend, Lucy, who is Hannah's aunt. Lucy lived in Dongguan near us. She felt much pity for her nieces because their living environment was so poor. She went to Hunan, got the girls and brought them to live with her in a very small, one bedroom apartment. At that time she said Hannah was spending appx 15 hrs a day alone, with no one to care for her. (Her older sister was living in a boarding school near the village.) After several months, Lucy fell beneath the weight of a single woman caring for 2 young girls. First, she found a home for the older one and attempted to keep Hannah with her. Before long, she reasoned she could not handle raising Hannah either. She was hopeless as to what to do with Hannah and reached out to us in desperation. We agreed to take Hannah rather than send her back to the situation she came out of. At that time there was no plan or thought about adopting her.
Over the years, as you can imagine, we have fallen in love with this child. We want to adopt her and give her a future with our family. As of now, when we return to the US for our annual visit, we must leave her behind. This is very dreadful and also very difficult for her. She is very attached to us and has no desire to return to the life she once knew.
Hannah was with us almost 2 years before she saw her mother again. She just recently saw her father again (4 yrs later). Hannah's parents are both on board with the adoption. They will do whatever necessary to make this happen. Hannah has a grandfather who lives in Dongguan. He is also in agreement with the adoption since he is too old to care for her.
Meet Nathan Isaac:
In November 2007 we opened our hearts and our home to a young girl who was about to deliver a baby. We did not know her but we had been asked to help her. Her boyfriend, a Nigerian, had suddenly abandoned her and her baby was due in 2 weeks. Her family refused to help her because the baby was half black. She had no money, nowhere to live, nowhere to turn and no one to help her. We took care of the mother and, when the baby was born, we began taking care of him.
After one year in our home, the mother got restless, felt hopeless, and told us she could no longer handle the pressure of being a single mother. She asked us to adopt her baby...and she left. Of course, at that time there was no way we could put the child in an orphanage. We loved him so much.....and we were the only parents he knew. He had no idea he was not our biological child. He only knew the love that comes from parents to a child.
Nathan is our child's name. He is now over 6 years old. His life has been good. All he has ever known is a home filled with love, joy and peace. He needs us and we need him. During these years, we have never given up hope that we WILL find a way to adopt him.
The main challenges we have faced:
He has a Hukou and it is registered with Jilin Province, his birth mother's hometown. Jilin Province, to date, refuses to grant an adoption in this case. In 2011 Guangdong Civil Affairs were open to granting a private adoption (not through an orphanage) but later realized the Hukou is in Jilin, which took it out of their jurisdiction.We were told by Jilin officials that the father MUST sign for the adoption. That seems to be impossible.
What we have done:
We have consulted adoption agencies in the US, government officials in China, government officials in the US, have written to the Ambassador to China, have made contact with CCAA, have begged orphanage directors to help us......to no avail. We went to Jilin in October 2012 and appealed our case to Mrs. Zheng in the Department of Civil Affairs. She said she would think about it for a month and let us know if she would approve it. After a month and a half, I wrote to her asking what her decision was. I have received no reply, to date.
ABOUT US:
We are Stephen and Denise Allen.
We have 4 grown children, ages 25-28. We also have 2 other Chinese daughters, unadoptable by law, but through the grace of God they are orphans no more! We have lived in China since August 2006. Our work here involves teaching the Word and helping others find hope and peace in this life and the life to come. Steve also teaches English at a local university.
As of October 27, 2014, We just received approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to adopt not one, but TWO, children!! This is HUGE for us! Although we did not anticipate problems from the US side, it is so exciting to get this step behind us! This does not finalize the adoption but determined that we are eligible, from the US side, to adopt.
We thank you for your support and prayers. God bless.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
We took a trip to the adoption agency today. Piper is so excited about having a new aunt and uncle!
Hannah is from Hunan Province. She is 13 years old. She has lived with us since she was 9 and we are in the process of trying to adopt her.
Hannah's biological father died when she was about 1 1/2 yrs old. Her mother was left to care for 2 little girls. Hannah has an older sister who is 18 now. The mother remarried while Hannah was still small. I understand the family was very, very poor and, eventually, the mother and her husband left the girls in the village with the stepfather's brother's family and moved away to find work. Hannah thinks she was 6 or 7 at that time.
We met Hannah through our friend, Lucy, who is Hannah's aunt. Lucy lived in Dongguan near us. She felt much pity for her nieces because their living environment was so poor. She went to Hunan, got the girls and brought them to live with her in a very small, one bedroom apartment. At that time she said Hannah was spending appx 15 hrs a day alone, with no one to care for her. (Her older sister was living in a boarding school near the village.) After several months, Lucy fell beneath the weight of a single woman caring for 2 young girls. First, she found a home for the older one and attempted to keep Hannah with her. Before long, she reasoned she could not handle raising Hannah either. She was hopeless as to what to do with Hannah and reached out to us in desperation. We agreed to take Hannah rather than send her back to the situation she came out of. At that time there was no plan or thought about adopting her.
Over the years, as you can imagine, we have fallen in love with this child. We want to adopt her and give her a future with our family. As of now, when we return to the US for our annual visit, we must leave her behind. This is very dreadful and also very difficult for her. She is very attached to us and has no desire to return to the life she once knew.
Hannah was with us almost 2 years before she saw her mother again. She just recently saw her father again (4 yrs later). Hannah's parents are both on board with the adoption. They will do whatever necessary to make this happen. Hannah has a grandfather who lives in Dongguan. He is also in agreement with the adoption since he is too old to care for her.
Meet Nathan Isaac:
In November 2007 we opened our hearts and our home to a young girl who was about to deliver a baby. We did not know her but we had been asked to help her. Her boyfriend, a Nigerian, had suddenly abandoned her and her baby was due in 2 weeks. Her family refused to help her because the baby was half black. She had no money, nowhere to live, nowhere to turn and no one to help her. We took care of the mother and, when the baby was born, we began taking care of him.
After one year in our home, the mother got restless, felt hopeless, and told us she could no longer handle the pressure of being a single mother. She asked us to adopt her baby...and she left. Of course, at that time there was no way we could put the child in an orphanage. We loved him so much.....and we were the only parents he knew. He had no idea he was not our biological child. He only knew the love that comes from parents to a child.
Nathan is our child's name. He is now over 6 years old. His life has been good. All he has ever known is a home filled with love, joy and peace. He needs us and we need him. During these years, we have never given up hope that we WILL find a way to adopt him.
The main challenges we have faced:
He has a Hukou and it is registered with Jilin Province, his birth mother's hometown. Jilin Province, to date, refuses to grant an adoption in this case. In 2011 Guangdong Civil Affairs were open to granting a private adoption (not through an orphanage) but later realized the Hukou is in Jilin, which took it out of their jurisdiction.We were told by Jilin officials that the father MUST sign for the adoption. That seems to be impossible.
What we have done:
We have consulted adoption agencies in the US, government officials in China, government officials in the US, have written to the Ambassador to China, have made contact with CCAA, have begged orphanage directors to help us......to no avail. We went to Jilin in October 2012 and appealed our case to Mrs. Zheng in the Department of Civil Affairs. She said she would think about it for a month and let us know if she would approve it. After a month and a half, I wrote to her asking what her decision was. I have received no reply, to date.
ABOUT US:
We are Stephen and Denise Allen.
We have 4 grown children, ages 25-28. We also have 2 other Chinese daughters, unadoptable by law, but through the grace of God they are orphans no more! We have lived in China since August 2006. Our work here involves teaching the Word and helping others find hope and peace in this life and the life to come. Steve also teaches English at a local university.
As of October 27, 2014, We just received approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to adopt not one, but TWO, children!! This is HUGE for us! Although we did not anticipate problems from the US side, it is so exciting to get this step behind us! This does not finalize the adoption but determined that we are eligible, from the US side, to adopt.
We thank you for your support and prayers. God bless.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
We took a trip to the adoption agency today. Piper is so excited about having a new aunt and uncle!
Organizer
Brittany Teitelbaum
Organizer
Dickson, TN