I've been working on my list of questions to ask/things to write down when we get "The Call". Here's what I've got so far:
- Date and time of call.
- Name of person calling.
- Baby's full Chinese name.
- Translation of baby's name.
- Full name of baby's orphanage.
- City and province of orphanage.
- Foster care?
- Date of birth.
- Height, weight and date taken.
- Other information about the baby - likes/dislikes, appearance, etc.
- Abandonment information (finding location, date found, note, etc).
- Travel group #.
- Other families in our travel group.
- Can we get a care package to the baby's orphanage?
- What does the orphanage need most?
- Can we request updated information on the baby?
- What is our estimated date of travel?
- Please email a picture and baby's information to
- When will you send the full referral packet? Can I have the tracking number?
- Is there anything else I need to know?
- What should I do next?
I know that sounds like a lot, but I practiced asking them out loud and they went really quickly. Is there anything else that I should ask? Is this an inappropriate time to ask about her abandonment?
Thanks!!!
4 comments:
What a cool post..I can not wait to ask those questions
I think you've got it covered!
Tonyia LID 1/27/06
I'm not sure how CCAI does it, but you might not get all of that info on your first call...we just got the very basic stuff: Chinese name, girl/boy, birthdate, province, foster care and that was about it. The rest took about a day for translation. But maybe your agency does it differently?
Unless things are very differenct, I only got her name, birthday, weight, orphanage - like Jane said very basic stuff.
If you're like me, as prepared as you are, with multiple copies of the sheet printed out at every phone to be ready, you'll still lose your pen and have to ask them to repeat everything because your brain just goes numb and you're crying all over the place!
My main advice - video tape the call. I didn't and really wish I would have!
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