Care Package

We spent the last several days putting together a care package for our daughter. (See contents, at left)

Care packages usually include gifts for your child, gifts for her caretakers, and a small donation for the Social Welfare Institution and the other children.

Lots of families also include disposable cameras, with a letter requesting SWI staff to document details of their son's or daughter's life, from play, to special friends, to primary caretakers, to the SWI itself. It's a wonderful window into the child's life before they came into yours. The hope and expectation is that the little ones will have a visual record of their earliest days, before adoption.

Many parents also include a list of questions for caretakers, we've learned. Questions about their child's likes and dislikes, what calms them, what foods are their favorites, whether they were left with a note or other object by their birth parent(s), and anything else the caretaker or foster parent would want their new family to know, to help new parents understand their children's needs better. Many families have received answers back that have helped them understand better how to help their wee ones through the difficult transition of separation and reattachment.

We included (pictured at top):

• A photo album with pictures of Jenny and her new family--us. The SWI staff will show this to Jenny in the weeks before we travel, so that when we meet her she will recognize us. We included her referral photo, shots of her new mom and dad (labeled so, in Chinese), a picture of her room, her new pets (so no surprises!), her grandparents, and a virtual family portrait, taken the day we received Jenny's referral package.
  
• For Jenny, a bilingual English/Mandarin story book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a teething rattle/puzzle, and a soft blanket from Granny Rankin. We also added a terry washcloth. We learned from other parents that terry is a common material for soothing blankets, and that kids attach to towels and wash cloths, once they get back to the hotels.
  
• For the caretakers, nail polish, candy and fish oil caplets. Yes, seems odd to us, but these items are hard to find in China and therefore much appreciated.
• Cotton and polartec sleepers, a donation to the communal clothing supply for the other children. We don't really know what they need or want most, but hope to get a better idea for the future. We expect to donate to Jenny's SWI regularly in the future.
  
• Disposable cameras, with a letter asking the staff to take photos and return the camera on the day we meet our daughter (see note below).
  

We also included a list of questions for the caretakers.

Of all the tasks we've had to complete since getting Jenny's picture, this was by far the most fun and the most thought-provoking. We have learned so much in the past 7 days about how the Chinese view gift-giving and donations, the Chinese language, what things are valuable and which are not. Gift giving traditions mark a culture; to learn about another place is to understand how to give gifts and how to receive them. Jenny, of course, is the greatest gift we will ever receive, from China or anywhere else. We are just beginning to learn the proper way to show our gratitude for her.