Ah-ha....

Here's an interesting tidbit I read yesterday about the speed with which families have been receiving their referrals lately. It comes from an email that Laura Trinnaman, the FFC Taiwan Program director, wrote in response to someone's question on one of the Yahoo Taiwan groups we've joined.

"On average, FFC receives 2-4 healthy infant referrals from the St.
Lucy Center per month. In addition, we receive 1-2 healthy infant
referrals from Chung Yi.

Chung Yi's nursery at the moment is quite small holding about 7
infants at a time. Not all are available or identified for
international adoption. Because of the need for adoption placement
for many additional infants, Chung Yi is opening an additional
infant nursery on August 11, 2007. The size of this nursery is
approximately double the size of their current nursery. And we hope
to see more infant referrals soon as the need grows for families.

Since May, FFC has received many healthy infant boy referrals to
only one girl. Just more boys available right now. This of course,
leaves families waiting in the long list for girls, frustrated to
say the least:)"

Incidentally, FFC is trying to raise some funds to purchase some new cribs and beds for a new infant wing in Chung Yi. The new facility will accommodate 11 babies. Chung Yi is one of two orphanages (the other one is St. Lucy's) from which our son or daughter will come. If you are interested in making a donation, please let me know and I will gladly give you more details.

(Note: the picture above was taken at the St. Lucy's orphanage in Tainan, Taiwan. You can see more pictures of St. Lucy's by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.)