For the 5th year, FCA will offer a $1,000 grant to help members offset the costs of culturally enriching activities.  To offer flexibility member applicants are offered varied opportunities to choose for use of the travel grant funds.  These experiences are valuable milestones along an adoptee's life journey, as an individual and as part of a family.

Opportunities

Our grant funds one of several opportunities: Heritage Travel to China, with any of the Heritage travel companies;  a domestic Adopteen conference - http://adopteen.org/; Family Culture camp, to include Family Chinese Language Camp at Concordia - http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org; Heritage Camp for Adoptive Families - http://www.heritagecamps.org/chinese.html.

Terms & Rules

The adoptee her or himself, or the adult for a heritage trip, will complete the simple application. The application process assumes financial need. The application is the first step, and qualifies the applicant to be chosen at a random drawing. FCA Board members are ineligible.

The applications are available (see below), and must be received postmarked February 5th, 2018.  The recipient will be chosen at random at the February 11^th Chinese New Year event. 

After receiving the grant and completing the travel within 18 months, the recipient is obliged to share the details of the trip, in an essay and in a presentation to the FCA community within a reasonable time frame.

GRANT APPLICATIONS; please click to download application.  Questions?  Email president@fcamidwest.com

 

Our previous recipients share their experiences:

CHINA, 2017

Charlotte Emanoff

The trip to China was awesome.  Going there with the girls from my travel group was the best.  There were 6 of us and we had so much fun.  My favorite parts of the trip were "everything" - but especially sitting with a panda in Chengdu, climbing the Great Wall, hanging out on the bus rides with my friends, riding bikes on the Xi'an City Wall, seeing my former orphanage, and seeing The Forbidden City.  We went to a Chinese dance show in Xi'an which was super cool for me personally because I have performed locally with CAAM Chinese dance since I was 2 years old. I loved seeing the country where I was born because now I feel like I know and understand more about my past and my culture.  I am thankful the travel grant from FCA helped this happen for me.  I would love to go back to China again and see more of it.  Red Thread Tours and Services did a great job and my family would definitely recommend them for a heritage trip.  - Charlotte Emanoff, age 11

Concordia Chinese Language Camp, 2017 Callaway, MN

Taylan Hummel

I used the grant from FCA to go to Concordia Chinese Language Camp in Callaway, MN.  I took a bus from St. Paul to and from camp. 

 

Some of my favorite things were the food, the store and the evening activities like putting on a short play using a bag full of different items.  It was so much fun!  I also made a few new friends!

 

I liked our Chinese classes too.  We were separated by how well we spoke Chinese.  I was able to help some kids who didn't speak any Chinese.  I really liked helping them.

 

During the last few days, our class practiced a short play - we chose Mulan.

 

I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to go to this camp because I won the grant.  It was so much fun!

 

Taylan Hummel, age 11

  

ADOPTEEN, 2015 San Diego
Alex Benham

If you are an adoptee - especially an Asian adoptee like me – lots of more words may come to mind when you hear the word Adoptee, words like: "happy,” “sad,” “angry,” “confused,” and “thankful”.  If they do, that is OK. It’s perfectly normal, and you are not alone. 

This was confirmed to me this past summer at the annual Adopteen Conference/Camp which I attended because I was awarded a scholarship from FCA.  I quickly decided that this “camp” was amazing. During the day we had excursions,  (a trip to the San Diego Zoo) and a beach day. Throughout the late afternoon we participated in activities― makeup techniques, photography,
cooking, and talks about the history of adoption. The evenings turned into a big slumber party with 80 people all of whom have one huge,life-shaping thing in common― adoption.

For a majority of the time it was all fun and games, but for a few hours one evening we got serious. We talked about what it’s like to be adopted. This was something that’s absolutely beautiful and ONLY adoptees get to be a part of. Everyone had to be present, but only participated to the extent of his or her own comfort level. There were tears, but lots of laughter, too. But, most importantly, there was a support system.
We learned that although everyone has a different story, we have a great deal in common. If somewhere in our lives there was an emotion or a comment or and event that made us uncomfortable― well, others had similar feelings and experiences. We are not alone. I wish I had gone to this event when I was younger.

Parents, If this article did not sell your kids on attending this conference, just make them go anyway. They will experience a magical bond among those who attend unlike anything that they have ever experienced before.

You can read about the Adopteen program online at  http://adopteen.org/