FAQ's

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.  Our key contact is Patrick McLaughlin, Chair of the Board of Directors. Full contact information can be found on our Contact page. We have three board members in the United States and one board member in China.
•    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 almost 6 years ago to help the orphanages of Shaanxi province. 

In 2005, she was asked by the Xi'an and Yulin 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. 

Board President 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 four 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.  The government of China does not allow us to practice any religion and because we are so closely affiliated with local government orphanages, we could easily loose our ability to operate. So we consider ourselves 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 Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (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 palettes, 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  page to view small things that we are always using. Amanda has also created a customized wish liston Amazon.  Please email Amanda: throwingstarfish0913@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.  One note, the government does not.  All second hand items have to be hand carried into China.  If you need this kind of arrangement, please let Amanda know and she can help you to find someone who will be coming to China.

10. Are you a tax-exempt foundation?

Yes, we received our non-profit 501(c)3 status in April 2007. Your donations are now fully tax-deductible. For our tax exempt letter, click Here.

11. Are my donations to Starfish tax deductible?

Yes. Starfish is a non-profit, charitable organization as defined by the IRS per our 501(c)3 designation.

12. How do I get a receipt for my donation?

Depending on method of donation-- online or check -- proof of donation is as follows:

Online donation via "Donate Now" on our website:

•    You will get an e-mail receipt from our online donation managemnet service confirming the details of your donation.  This email receipt is recognized by the IRS as a valid receipt of charitable donation. This email notification is an IRS valid receipt regardless of donation amount.   Please be sure to print the email notification for your tax files.  NOTE: if you are a recurring donor, you will receive a receipt every time the donation recurs. 

Donation via check:

•    For donations $250 and under, your canceled check is proof of donation per IRS guidelines.  For donations above $250, a letter from Starfish is required if you want to deduct the donations.  If you would like a tax receipt letter, please be sure to attach a note to your check requesting the letter and we will send you one.

13. How can we send boxes to you?

The contents of the box and the postage are tax-deductible.  Please keep your receipts for tax purposes.

For a cost effective way to mail goods to us, see instruction on the labeled Daily Needs page.  You may also contact Amanda, since she knows travelers who are willing to bring boxes to China free of charge.  This might take longer than mailing directly, but it bypasses customs.  The custome office often rejects boxes due to the content.

If you decide to mail on your own, there are a couple of things you should know.  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 e-mail Amanda: throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com  the tracking information once you send the box so that she can keep an eye out for incoming packages.