True Children's Home

THIRD True Children’s Home


View from the day room in Anji	Caregivers prepare a bedroom for the children

A new True Children’s Home will be opening in April 2008, in Anji, Zhenjiang Province. This home will provide care for 16 children. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. William Zhu for their generosity in sponsoring the third True Children’s Home.

Children’s Home Program
A Day in the Park


Hui, Che and Tao	You

Warm weather has finally arrived in Dongguan and the children are enjoying being outside in the sunshine.

Children’s Home Program
Shoes of all Sizes!

Thanks to Laurel Curtis, a volunteer at TCH, and her husband Paul, for donating shoes by Sketchers to the children and staff at TCH.

New Arrivals


Zai (boy) born Sept. 2007 Abandoned Guangdong Province Anal atresia	Ai (girl) born Jan. 2008 Abandoned Guangdong Province Anal atresia	Huan (girl) born Nov. 2006 Abandoned Guangdong Province Heart defect

Medical Care Program

			Ti had successful heart surgery (above and below)
Doctors prepare Heng for cleft lip and cleft palate surgery. This dual surgery was a first for a TCH child.

Foster Care Program

Hu (girl)
Foster Care (FC) Mother—Yang Mei
Foster Care (FC) Father—Li Chun You
This is their first time being foster parents.

En (girl)
FC Mother—Zhang Jing Lan
FC Father—Li Guan Shen
(shown with foster brother)
This is their first time being foster
parents.

Xuan (boy, QSI Dongguan Baby)
FC Mother—Li Zhang Di FC Father—Li Guan Lian

This is their third time sharing their home with a foster child. Li Zhang Di (FC Mother) says she likes being a foster mother because, “I don’t like to work in the factory; staying at home doing nothing is also boring. But most important, I like children. I deeply love the children I have fostered. It is difficult to say goodbye, really heartbreaking, but I always look ahead. Once I take care of a new child, I fall in love with that child. I could not tell you why but I do know that I will never stop caring for them.” (through a translator)

Community Outreach


Students listen to a TCH presentation	Carol Wang (English Teacher), Jenny and Jue

Jenny and Katrina were recently invited to Dongguan No. 1 High School to share with 600 seniors about True Children’s Home and “Making a Difference.” Jue came along for “Show and Tell.”

True Heroes

There are many people working together to make a difference in the lives of children that come to TCH.
Each month we will spotlight one of those individuals as our True Hero.


Alisa plays “pat-a-cake” with You	Gale entertains Hui with a rattle and a smile

Gale and Alisa Stubbs arrived in Dongguan in August 2007, on their second school assignment with Quality Schools International (QSI), where Gale teaches high school and Alisa teaches grade one. Having heard about TCH from Karen Hall, Director of QSI Dongguan, Gale and Alisa decided to get involved. They both spend one evening each week volunteering at TCH. When asked what they enjoy most about volunteering at TCH, Gale responded, “Looking into the children’s eyes and trying to help them see love. Watching them grow, develop, and open up to us as the weeks go by.” When we first started, You would cry every time that we showed up. Now, she plays with us and even sits on Alisa’s lap.”

Having four grown children of their own, one married, one in law school, and two in universities in Missouri, the Stubbs’ have plenty of child-rearing and nurturing experience. What they have seen at TCH is summed up by Alisa: “The staff at TCH is very caring and has been given the opportunity and instruction to touch, hold, and play with the children as much as possible. This is wonderful and happens because there is such a low caregiver to baby ratio. The children seem to be happy most of the time. This can only be the result of the fact that they feel cared for and loved.”

Thank you Gale and Alisa. You are True Heroes!

Adoption
Update on Matthan (Ping)

Matthan is doing FANTASTIC! On February 5, he had phase two of his palate repair surgery - closing three fistulas (holes) in the palate. The overnight in the hospital was a bit rough as Matthan hated everything and could not get comfortable. Once we returned home he settled in nicely. He does not like to wear the arm braces but has finally accepted it. He has discovered, to his delight, that he can still play with all of his toys. Eating is frustrating as he prefers to feed himself. We are able to remove the braces 2-3 times a day for about an hour but he starts to put his fingers in his mouth and wants to play with the stitches. We return for a visit with the doctor on the 20th and will then find out if the arm braces can come off or if he needs to wear them for another week.

Matthan has a delightful personality, even when he is having a tantrum. :) His personality is still strong and he still loves to figure out how things work, take things apart and put them back together again, and wants to climb on, and jump off of, everything! Matthan is beginning to color and loves to dance to music. He also loves watching Thomas the Tank Engine. We have discovered a new show called Ni Hao Kai-Lan. It is in English but incorporates Chinese language and culture. Each show features a new Chinese word. Matthan gets excited when he watches this show and we are all slowly learning Chinese. We have found a school nearby that teaches both Spanish and Chinese, starting with preschoolers through 12th grade. We hope to get him enrolled there and are on a waiting list.

A smile from Matthan

For Matthan’s second birthday we had family here for the holidays. It was a small gathering but perfect in every way. Matthan was excited about Christmas and I think, a little overwhelmed, but he had fun. Please let everyone know how he is doing. His appetite has not let up one bit. Just the other day a waitress remarked how well he eats. I love that he is not afraid to try new foods. He has the sweetest personality and likes to show us off when we go out. He will catch someone’s attention and then look at us and point, saying “mama, dada”, and keeps saying it until the person acknowledges what he is saying.

Take care,

Rachel
	Matthan loves to play outside

Successful Adoptions

Vital Statistics

Children who received care—69

Surgeries performed—70

Children transitioned to foster care—38

Children adopted—15*

*Children have been adopted into families in China, Holland, Spain and the U.S.

True Children’s Home relies on donations from individuals, organizations and corporations. One hundred percent of donated funds goes into one of our four programs: children’s home, medical care, foster care or community outreach.

True Children’s Home is affiliated with China Care foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization. Donations to TCH are completely tax deductible. All administrative expenses are underwritten by Alan and Twila True.

If you would like more information on how you can help, contact us at info@truechildrenshome.org or visit our website at www.truechildrenshome.org.

For monetary donations, please make the check payable to China Care Foundation. In the Memo/For section of the check write “True Children’s Home.” All checks must be drawn on a U.S. bank. Send your check to True Children’s Home, c/o True North America, P.O. Box 51057, Irvine, CA 92619-1057.

Working together we can make a difference in the lives of children…
one child at a time!