Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto
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Friendship gathering a success!




Friendship Program to bridge culture





The Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto (CCC) and Children's Bridge, a
non-profit international adoption facilitator, today (Saturday) jointly
announced a Friendship Program to bring together Canadian adoptive families
with families of recent immigrants from China.




The announcement was made at the opening of the Spring Lantern Festival, a
Chinese cultural event specially organized by the two organizations for about 400 members of Canadian adoptive families.




Ms Angela Smedema, Coordinator, Pre & Post Adoption Services (Toronto) of
Children's Bridge, said the main goal of the Friendship Program is to let the
Chinese families and the adoptive families to educate each other on their
respective culture and heritage.




“Ideally, the matched families should make an effort to get together for
dinner, lunch or a visit once or twice a month or so,” said Ms Smedema. “The
Chinese family will not be expected to babysit. The visits should be beneficial
to both families. The adoptive families can provide information on Canadian
culture and help the immigrant families to settle down here.”




She added that matching families based on their kid's birth province in China
would be wonderful but not necessary.




Dr Ming Tat Cheung, Chairman and President of the CCC, said the Centre welcomed
and supported the idea because the Friendship Program “is more about providing
the adoptive families with a link to the Chinese community and Chinese
culture.” “To let the adopted children to learn more about the culture and
heritage of the place they came from will definitely help them to build up
their confidence when facing future challenges,” said Dr Cheung.




Mr Stephen Siu, CCC's Excutive Director, said: “According to child
psychiatrists, helping the adopted children to develop a healthy sense of
self-understanding ‘Who am I?’ is very important,
and the process has to be
started as early as possible.” He said the CCC had pledged to help these
children understand what it means to be Chinese, and help them make friends
with Chinese people here so they can see their life.




Children's Bridge is a federally incorporated organization. Run primarily by
adoptive parents, with professional staff supporting its efforts, Children's
Bridge helps families who wish to adopt from the People's Republic of China,
South Korea, and Thailand.




Created in the early 1990's to facilitate adoptions from China, Children's
Bridge has grown from one family's adoption into a national organization,
successfully facilitating more than 1,000 adoptions to date, including 900
adoptions from China. The majority of the adoptions are infant girls between 6
and 12 months of age. Children are available in China mostly due to one child
policy.




The CCC has been providing cultural support to Canadian families which have
adopted children from China. It has worked with FCC (Families with Children
from China Charitable Fund), apart from Children's Bridge, to provide Chinese
cultural camps, activities and courses.




For more information and application forms, the recent immigrant families can
get in touch with the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto at Tel:
416-292-9293 (5183 Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough.)




To take part in the Friendship Program, the immigrant families should satisfy
the following requirements:


    


  • Arrived and settled down in the Greater Toronto Area within the last 24
    months.
   

  • You must be married, no same sex couples permitted to apply.
   

  • You must be free from criminal record; must have no emotional disabilities.
   

  • Single parent or one of the two parents must be a landed immigrant.
   

  • No more than 3 children in the family.
   

  • The adopted child to be hooked up with your family may age between 6 months
    to 10 years.
   

  • You must be financially independently, living in a decent environment.
   

  • Good command of spoken English.



   



Application Process:




    


  • Completion of an application form
    (text version available)
    which is available at the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto.
   

  • The matching/screening process will be jointly done by the CCC and
    Children's Bridge. It may take one or two months before the process is
    done.
   

  • Not every application will be entertained.



   





For further information, please contact
CCC at (416)292-9293.