Families with Children from China
Southeast Michigan / Washtenaw County Chapter

Welcome! Families with Children from China (FCC) is a national nonprofit organization offering support and information for families involved with adopting children from the People's Republic of China. FCC is a nonprofit organization and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation. The Washtenaw County chapter of FCC includes some 60 families and individuals, in all stages of adoption, in the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti area. Please scroll down for details.

This page offers information on local resources for adoptive families and prospective adoptive parents. Information tends toward the local, but some national and international links are also provided.
Chapter activities, general and upcoming	Nearby FCC chapters
Selected Michigan adoption agencies	Selected national adoption agencies
China-related resources in our area	Books and related publications
Medical information	Miscellaneous
Chinese language opportunity for kids

Please note: content on these pages is for informational purposes only, and is not intended as a recommendation of any particular organization or company, nor as legal or medical advice.

Chapter Activities, General and Upcoming -- Updated 1/15/08
	Lunar New Year 2008 - Year of the Rat

FCC is holding a group dinner at Washtenaw Community College Sunday, Feb. 10, from 2:00-4:00, in the Morris Lawrence Building. For details please contact our Membership Secretary, Becky Blackburn, at 734 446 5859. Her email is: b n t 1 1 8 5 1 *at* gmail & dot*( com (remove the punctuation between the 'b' and the 't').

The United States Postal Service is offering a number of Lunar New Year items. Some you can buy at local branches, while others seem to be available only through their online store. Items include a commemorative sheet for the Year of the Rat, a calendar, some first-day covers for philatelists, etc.: see www.usps.com.

The Ann Arbor Observer reports that the Korean School of Ann Arbor will offer a Lunar New Year celebration on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008, at Tappan Middle School. There will be student presentations, Korean cultural activities, and samples of food. The Korean School's webpage has a few more details.

Many local activities and opportunities related to Chinese culture, history, and language can be found by using the Observer's site search, year-round.

Also on Jan. 26, the Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan is holding an all-day party with many activities. The event will be in the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College.

---

We have an active members-only email list, at A3FC2@yahoogroups.com. Visit Yahoogroups.com to request a subscription. In warmer months we often have potlucks at parks around Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, and sometimes we have play-dates for the slightly older kids. Our annual dues are $25 per family.

If you're interested in joining us or for details about other activities, please contact our Membership Secretary, Becky Blackburn, at 734 446 5859. Her email is b n t 1 1 8 5 1 *at* gmail & dot*( com (remove the punctuation between the 'b' and the 't' to unscramble).

Nearby FCC Chapters

These next entries contain some personal email addresses, which we've altered as an anti-spam measure. Remove the brackets and so on, and spell 'dot' correctly, and you're all set. The chief source of this information is the national FCC site.

• Metro Detroit FCC: Membership info: fccmdmembership at comcast {{dot) net or Mike O'Neill at fccmdfinances [at} aol (daht) com. They sponsor monthly playgroups, a bimonthly newsletter, Culture Day, Chinese New Year Party, Holiday Party, Dragon Boat Picnic, Parents Night Speakers, Waiting Families Meetings. Dues are $30.00.
  
  
• Kalamazoo and Battle Creek: Contact: Judy Scott, 616 665 4750, email: Cougar2754 ]at] charter dowt net, or Martha Upjohn, 616 665 4750.
  
  
• Northwest Ohio: Contact: Dee Dye Miller, 3790 Pioneer Rd., Osseo, MI 49266. E-mail: millde [[at} dmci [dot) net.
  
  
• Central Ohio: Reach them at OFCC@yahoogroups.com or call the COFCC phone line at 614 470 3870. Based in Columbus, COFCC serves families in the central Ohio area by providing a monthly playgroup, a newsletter, and organized outings.
  

Selected Michigan Adoption Agencies

Members of our group have used these agencies with good results, but you should take care to find an agency whose policies and views are similar to your own.

Selected National Adoption Agencies

Some of us have used just one agency -- the one inside Michigan -- for both parts of the adoption paperwork. Others of us have used one agency inside Michigan and and an additional agency elsewhere in the US that has better China connections. Agencies listed below have been used with happy results by one or more of the families in our group.

China-Related Resources in Our Area (chiefly Ann Arbor)

Language and culture

• Ann Hua Chinese School offers Chinese-as-a-Second-Language (CSL) classes for parents and kids. Classes at K-8 levels are held each Sunday in the Dow Building on UM's North Campus. The school also has some specialized classes in dance and fine arts. They hold a school-wide celebration for Lunar New Year and an end-of-year picnic. Ann Hua is associated with mainland China.
  
  
• Lessons in Mandarin Chinese for grownups are offered at Washtenaw Community College and periodically through Ann Arbor's Rec and Ed program (994-2300).
  
  
• The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan offers a variety of information on Asia, including lectures and information on travel in Asia.
  
  
• Art museums at U of M, Eastern, and MSU offer exhibits from time to time on Chinese topics. Keep an eye on the schools' respective web sites for details.
  
  
• The Detroit Institute of Art has an excellent Asian art collection. The Toledo Museum of Art's holdings are also quite good.
  
  
• The Ann Arbor Chinese School, associated with Taiwan, also offers classes for young children. It meets at Northside Elementary School in north Ann Arbor.
  
  
• Clavis Sinica is a software program for learning Mandarin Chinese, especially Chinese characters. It is the work of Professor David Porter, who teaches in the Comparative Literature and English departments at the U of M. It explains individual Chinese characters, offers audio files of native speakers pronouncing characters, and enables various sorts of character lookups, for a wide variety of Chinese texts.
  
  
• At the end of January William Poy Lee will be speaking at WCC about his book The Eighth Promise. He is appearing as part of the 2008 Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti Reads program, sponsored in part by the Ann Arbor District Library.

Activities

• A parade for Chinese New Year happens each January or February in downtown Ann Arbor. Watch the Ann Arbor News or Ann Arbor Observer for the exact date, which is usually within a week or two of Chinese New Year.
  
  
• Other kid-related Lunar New Year activities near the parade generally include making paper-cutouts, writing your name in Chinese, etc.

Retail (other than dining and books)

• Great Land Supermarket, 4177 Carpenter Road, Pittsfield Twp.
  
  
• Dong Yu Grocery Store, on Plymouth between Nixon Road and Huron Parkway (across from McDonald's) in Ann Arbor
  
  
• Polygon Merchandise Co. offers a wide selection of Asian videos, especially martial arts. They're located inside the Plymouth Road Mall, next door to China Merchandise
  
  
• Lucky Market, 1665 Plymouth Road (in the Courtyard Shops, with Wendy's and Cafe Marie), Ann Arbor
  
  
• Oriental Food, 412 W. Michigan, Ypsilanti
  
  
• Tsai Grocery, 3115 Oak Valley Drive, Pittsfield Twp. (off Ann Arbor - Saline Road, near Outback Steakhouse) -- an extensive Asian grocery store with a small selection of other items, like rice bowls, teapots, etc. They have a good selection of loose tea, both black and green, if you can cope with labels not in English.
  
  
• Peaceable Kingdom, 210 S. Main, Ann Arbor, often carries small items from China and Japan, including very nice teapots and chopsticks, and small toys like tops and wind-up toys.
  
  
• Hollander's, 407 N. Fifth, Ann Arbor, inside the main Kerrytown building, carries a wide variety of very nice decorative papers with Asian themes. Papers come in large sheets suitable for present-wrapping or book-binding, as well as smaller papers for everything from holiday cards to origami
  
  
• World Market, 2900 S. State, Ann Arbor, often has numerous items from China, including calligraphy kits, some Lunar New Year items, decorative household items, and the occasional Asian lawn ornament. Stock varies.
  
  
• Middle Earth, 1209 S. University, Ann Arbor, has a line of Asian items, including Yixing tea sets, Buddhist items ranging from incense to statues, chopsticks, and at Christmastime a decent collection of Asian-origin Christmas ornaments

Chinese restaurants, all kinds (list under development)

• China Gate, 1201 S. University, Ann Arbor
• China One, 1047 Emerick, Ypsilanti
• Chinese Buffet, 2905 Washtenaw, Ypsilanti Twp.
• Dinersty, 241 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor
• Dynasty Chinese Buffet, 4675 Washtenaw, Ypsilanti Twp., elaborate buffet with many eastern and western dishes. Selections on any given day may vary
  
• Eastern Accents Bakery and Cafe, 214 S. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor, specializes in Asian-style baking, and green and black tea. Excellent moon cakes.
• Evergreen Restaurant, 2771 Plymouth Road, in the Plymouth Road Mall, Ann Arbor
• Gourmet Garden, 2255 W. Stadium, Ann Arbor, fusion Pacific and Chinese cooking
• Great Lake Chinese Seafood, 2910 Carpenter, Ann Arbor
• Lucky Kitchen, 1753 Plymouth Road, in the Courtyard Shops, Ann Arbor
• Kai Garden, 116 S. Main, Ann Arbor
• Sze-Chuan West, 2161 W. Stadium, at Liberty, Ann Arbor, best sesame noodles in town
  

Bookstores, books, and publications

• Shaman Drum, on north State Street, has a pretty good selection of ethnically diverse kids' books and a number that are China-specific. Other bookstores in town do also, but they're often mixed in with hundreds of other titles and hence harder to find. Shaman Drum also specializes in books on Buddhism and Asian religions generally.
  
  
• Borders (downtown Ann Arbor and Arborland branch) and Barnes & Noble also carry China-related books and maps, including dictionaries, travel books, language tapes, etc.
  
  
• Adoptive Families Magazine covers the whole spectrum of adoption, domestic and international. It is published six times a year. Its articles range from pre-adoption issues and activities through articles regarding pre-teens and beyond.
  
  
• Rainbow Kids sells a variety of items related to inter-country adoption, including China. They have quite a selection of Christmas ornaments and items for Lunar New Year.
  
  
• ChinaSprout offers China-specific merchandise, as well as bulletin boards and other sources of information. The site's general focus is on China.
  
  
• Asiaforkids likewise offers China-specific items and items from Asia in general.
  

Medical Information

• Dr. Jerri Ann Jenista, MD, a national authority on medicine and adoption, lives in Ann Arbor. Her contact information: 734 668 0419 (voice), 734 668 9492 (fax), 551 Second Street. She offers pre-adoption medical reviews. Contact her for details.
  
  
• Growth charts for Chinese children, courtesy of FCC.

Miscellaneous

• New Age Salon, 347 Maynard, Ann Arbor, gives wonderful haircuts to small people.
  
  
• Referrals for daycare with Chinese-speaking care providers are occasionally available through the Child Care Network, 3060 Packard, Ann Arbor. If you're a U of M employee, mention it, and they will do some of the paperwork for you. As for all local daycare, wait lists can be long.
  
  
• Plants of variously Asian background -- bamboos, lotuses, Chinese maples, etc. -- can be found at Saguaro Nursery, 470 W. Five Mile, in Whitmore Lake

Page first published January 2003; updated January 2008; development always underway.
Check the source code for a hint about this page's author.