[Bob_ICASP]

Hi, I am Bob Trieu. I am one of the coordinators for the Illinois Chinese Adopted Sibling Program (ICASP), an off-shoot of the Taiwanese American Students Club on the campus of the Univ. of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

I would like to cordially invite all interested families, especially those in the Illinois region to come to our event. All activities are free, and lunch will be provided.

ICASP is a day long program in which adopted Chinese children are paired with a college age "big-sib" and partake in cultural immersion activites, such as Chinese folk dance and folk stories.

Parents will be invited to a sessions with Jean MacLoed, Director of OCDF Institute and Family Outreach for Our Chinese Daughters Foundation (http://www.ocdf.org). More information can be found at https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ro/www/Tai...ntsClub/ICASP/


Please let me know if you have any questions about our program, post here, or email me personally at trieu@uiuc.edu or robert.trieu@gmail.com

Thanks! I hope to see you there!
Bob Trieu

[Teekay74]

That sounds great. What ages is it recommended for?Is this a yearly event? I'm in Illinois, but would not attend for the obvius reason, my child is not yet here. I will keep it in mind for the future.

[Bob_ICASP]

Congrats! The program is designed for children from 5-15, although we have had children as young as 3 last year. This is our second year doing this program and we hope to get enough people to come to make it an annual event for many many years down the road.

Please tell anyone you know who might be interested to come. We are trying to spread word of our program through as many means as possible, especially word of mouth. The website in the link above has more information about the program. We hope to see you at our program years down the road.

Thanks for the interest.
Bob Trieu

[Monielynn]

What about the non-adopted older siblings? Our Chinese daughter is not here yet, but my 9-year-old insists that we will all be "part Chinese" now, and is very excited to learn all about China (she will be going with us when we travel to get her sister). Would she be welcome at an event like this, or is it only for adopted children?

thanks

[Bob_ICASP]

I want to add some additional information, this program is open to all parents and childredn interested in what we have to offer. So, Teekay74, you are definitely welcome to come just to sit in on the Parents portion (her talk is about homeland trips to China, more information on Jean MacLoed's talk on our website, link above). Monielynn, it is quite a blessing to hear a sibling take an accepting stance and active interest in her adopted sister's culture at her age, and you too are welcome to join us, and she can immerse herself in some Chinese activities. Our guest speaker, Jean MacLoed, will be speaking about homeland to China, which would more likely be your first trip over there.

I view this program as a valuable place for children to interact and learn about Chinese culture, as well as adoptive parents or future adoptive parents to network and find social support. Again, let me know if you have any further questions or would like to register for our event. Thanks!
Bob Trieu

[Trisha2]

If the program is still around in a few more years, hopefully we will be able to go. I'm an Illinois alumni, so I would love to be able to take my daughter there to see the campus, show her where I lived, etc. I've always wanted my husband to see the campus too.

[Bob_ICASP]

BUMP! I wanted to bring up this post again just in case some did not see it before.
Thanks!