On this festive occasion, I, on behalf of all the staff of CCAA, would like to extend my sincere thanks to the heads of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the concerned departments and units, local civil affairs departments and social welfare institutions as well as the concerned government offices and adoption agencies of all the adopting countries in close cooperative relationship with the CCAA.

In 2010, all the programmes were developed coordinately at the CCAA. With regard to inter-country adoptions, thanks to the implementation of “three phases” method and development of the one-to-one supporting project as well as the Journey of Hope Project, the number of children adopted increased in comparison with the previous year. Inter-country adoption was seen as the main channel for those older or disabled children difficult to be placed domestically to be placed with families. In addition, follow-up services for children adopted were further developed, which broadened the scope of inter-country adoption and promoted sound development of children adopted. With regard to domestic adoptions, the CCAA took the responsibility to make relevant investigations and discussions over the revision of adoption regulations for domestic adopters in the hope of controlling private adoptions with adherence to the principle of “prioritized interests of children”. Besides, the CCAA made efforts to promote the build-up of a family assessment and follow-up system for the sake of protection of children’s legal rights and interests. With regard to child welfare, the CCAA continued to carry out the “Tommorrow Plan” project as usual, and meanwhile, in order to meet with the need of system construction for child welfare in China, developed the information system for child welfare in China. What’s more, the CCAA made efforts to establish a training mechanism for carers of orphans and children with disabilities.

In 2011, the CCAA will have a major transformation completed and step into a much larger developing trajectory. We will shoulder the mission to “start a new undertaking”, make close links with the local civil affairs departments and social welfare institutions and strengthen the cooperation with the government offices and adoption agencies of the adopting countries. We will live up to the trust and care of the heads of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and all those friends who care about and support the undertakings of CCAA, to the eager expectation of children in difficult circumstances, and to the new age for the development of child welfare in China.

Zhang Shifeng