A Chinese New Year Celebration – Passing the Torch

A Chinese New Year Celebration – Passing the Torch

By Kim Cissell Executive Assistant, International Family Services Home Study/Post Adoption Coordination Passing the Torch Since the mid-1990s International Family Services has offered a wonderful China adoption program to which I have been privileged to provide leadership in recent years. When IFS had the opportunity of inviting Esther Haines to join our staff last spring as China Program Director I had mixed emotions. You see, I dearly love working with families preparing for adoptions in China. But, I was also relieved. In my personal family life I was finding that my energies were needed more at home caring for an ailing parent. The timing was perfect for me to step out of my China management role while continuing my other IFS responsibilities. (Read more about Kim Cissell). Over the next few months I completed my work with the China families I had been working with while Esther assumed her new IFS leadership duties. Through the past 18 years Esther has helped over 600 Chinese orphan children find adoptive homes. Much of Esther’s work in has been with families living in the Northeast, many from New York State. Every month Esther’s families host an adoption support group at the Church of Saint Anthony in Nanuet, New York, just north of New York City. When Esther invited me to attend the IFS Chinese New Year Celebration on February 6 of this year I jumped at the chance. Esther lives in the western part of New York and I live in the Houston area of Texas. We both chuckled when I got off the plane in Rochester and met the frigid northern...
My Story of Miss Ali

My Story of Miss Ali

It has been an unforgettable year for our family, a year we described as amazing, challenging, fun, and frustrating – all at the same time.

New China Program Director

New China Program Director

IFS welcomes Esther, the new China Program Director, who has worked mostly on the Eastern US Coast with Chinese adoption agencies for the past 17 years.

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