As you probably know by now, there was a deadly fire at a private orphanage in Henan province recently. This tragic event drew a quick response from the highest levels of the Chinese government. The response came in the form of a directive to the provincial level to conduct safety inspections of every private orphanage to ensure that each building is up to current fire safety code and to take any necessary actions to make sure the orphans were safe.

The provincial directive and the speed at which it was implemented are unprecedented. The Starfish board of directors is in constant contact with Naomi Kerwin (executive director) to keep pace with what is a very fluid situation. In addition, I asked Michael Chen (legal counsel) and Michael Bosmann (board member) to fly to Xi'an to assess the situation from the ground level.

As a result of these efforts, we are much better informed and can speak with a bit more certainty as to what the future may hold for the foster home. Below is a recap of what we know/learned:

* The directive is focused on private orphanages and not foster homes. This is an important point of distinction as we were founded as a foster home in 2006. In the eyes of the provincial government, Starfish is a working private orphanage based on the large number of orphans we can offer care. Generally speaking, foster care is viewed as less than four children living in a "traditional" setting such as an apartment or home.

* The execution and actions taken related to the directive vary widely from province to province. Starfish is located in Shaanxi Province and the provincial response was to conduct safety inspections initially but order the taking of the children back to the government orphanages eventually. Other provinces took the approach of conducting safety inspection first and using inspection results to determine if the children would stay there or be transferred.

* All of our children have been transferred back to either the Xi'an or Yulin government orphanage based on the orphanage of origin. Naomi Kerwin has arranged for our nannies to be at both locations to offer help to the government orphanage staff with our babies. With respect to our highly-comprised children we have a plan of care set up for each child. Naomi maintains daily contact with her people on the ground in Xi'an and Yulin to make sure our care plan is being followed.

* We believe adoptions should not be impacted by this directive. Per published government statements and our discussions with provincial/local officials, the adoption process will not be negatively impacted by the recent safety directive.

While we don't know when our children will be returned to our care, we do know that the operational status of Starfish is going to change in the near future. There are many factors for the board to consider relevant to how Starfish serves the orphan community of China. To that end, I will be meeting with the board and key advisors to look at all options available to us to continue the mission started by Amanda.

I continue to be grateful for the support all of you offer to Starfish especially during these unrelenting challenging times.

Patrick McLaughlin, Starfish Board President