1. What is the legal status of Starfish Children’s Services?
Starfish Children’s Services (SCS) is a registered U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization.  Our EIN number is 20-4682916.  Starfish Foster Home is a part of this entity.

2. Please explain your organizational structure.
SCS operates from two different locations:

• U.S. operations: SCS is incorporated in Utah, and day-to-day operations are managed out of New York City/New Jersey. Our key contact is Patrick McLaughlin, Chair of the Board of Directors. Full contact information can be found on our Contact page. We have five board members in the United States, and we meet regularly.

• China operations: Starfish Foster Home is located in Xi’an, China (Shaanxi Province), with day-to-day operations handled by Amanda de Lange, founder and Executive Director of SCS.
  
  

3. What makes your people qualified to do this work?
Founder and Executive Director Amanda de Lange has an extensive track record of success with children in China.  She is a teacher by trade and started SCS three years ago to help the orphanages of Shaanxi province.  She was asked by the orphanages to provide foster care for the very sick children that needed appropriate medical attention.  She has successfully established herself as an executive director who is able to get things done.  Her children are well cared for and receive the medical attention they need.  As of mid-September 2008, she has saved over 40 children through SCS and completed 14 adoptions. The adoptions of five additional children are pending, so we expect this number to increase soon. 

Board Chair Patrick McLaughlin is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of practical business experience.  He has been highly successful in running sales organizations and is an accountant by education.   During his tenure, fundraising has increased five-fold.

The Board of Directors comprises five highly qualified individuals with various business and educational backgrounds.  You can read more information about each director on our About Us page.

4. Are you a faith-based organization?
No, we are not a faith-based organization.  We are a humanitarian organization appealing to everyone to help in this effort.
 

5.  What are your goals?
Short-term goals:

• to save the lives of orphaned infants and toddlers that have special medical needs by securing required medical attention in mainland China

• to expedite the transition of the special needs children from the orphanage and foster home to the waiting arms of a loving adoptive family.

 
Long-term goals (over the next five years):

• to raise the awareness of SCS as a worthy charity of high integrity in the Western world and one that accomplishes much with very little.
  
  
• to double our resources so that we can help children from Shaanxi provincial orphanages

More information on our mission, vision and values can be found on the About Us page.
 

6. Do you decide who adopts the babies?
This is the most frequently asked question.  We at Starfish have no power to make decisions about who adopts the children.  This is only done by the CCAA in Beijing .  We have no idea at which of the 200 different adoptions agencies the dossiers are going to land.  Once the dossiers are handed over to the CCAA, we will not know anything until the children have been matched. We cannot give you any information that will make it easier to adopt any one child. It is against the law.


7. Where do the children come from?
The babies come from the government orphanages in Shaanxi, the province in which Starfish Foster Home is based.  We try to select babies that are in need of medical care. Many of these babies have spina bifida, cleft palattes and cardiovascular issues.

8. Why is Starfish Foster Home not called an orphanage?
In China, only the institutions run by the government have the right to call themselves orphanages.  All other places who take orphans into their homes are known as foster homes.

9. What do you need?
Please visit our Daily Needs and Volunteering page to view small things that we are always using. Amanda has also created a customized wish list on Amazon.  Please email Amanda (chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com) when you decide to buy an item so that we do not get more than what we need.  Some of the needs are very specific, but we typically welcome similar and secondhand versions of most items.

10. Are you a tax-free foundation?
Yes, we received our non-profit 501(c)3 status in April 2007. Your donations are now fully tax-deductible.

11. How can we send boxes to you?

The most efficient way to send us boxes is through a central mailing post set up by one of our volunteers, Stephanie Barbee here in the United States.  This will save significant postage dollars!  Here is the address:

phone - 801.253.3536

Stephanie is a very good friend of the Starfish Team and she has coordinated a way with travel agencies to transport the products over seas.  So please know that this alternative exists.

However, if you are outside the United States, probably the most expeditious mailing is directly to the foster home. (See Contact Us page for complete address).

The contents of the box and the postage are tax-deductible.  Please keep your receipts for tax purposes. Due to the local mail system, it is very difficult to find missing boxes without a tracking number.  As a result, we recommend that you use UPS or FedEx.  They have numbers that we can track and many different shipping rates, including surface  mail. This is the cheapest method and it is slow, but it is also reliable.  Please email Amanda (chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com) the tracking information once you send the box so that she can keep an eye out for incoming packages.