Monday, October 18, 2010

Confusion About Tatiana

On Friday I was checking my Children International account, and at first I thought they had some kind of bug in their computer program, because Tatiana's name and age were different. Way different- she went from 12 to 8, and the last name went from P. R. to Different P Name. O.
I thought that I was looking at the information for someone else's child, and wondered how that happened. Then I saw the pictures- it was still my Tatiana. I was so confused. Why did her name and age change?
Then I remembered an inquiry a CI employee had made a couple of months ago. There was some confusion regarding Tatiana and one of her brothers- they were listed as being born 17 days apart or something like that. So I guess the family report I have now is the new, improved, corrected one...except I still am confused.
Tatiana doesn't look 8. She looks 10 or 12. And if she's 8, her first photo would have been taken when she was about 11 months old. For one thing, that's over a year younger than the very youngest children CI enrolls in their program. For another thing, she doesn't LOOK like an 11 month old baby in the picture! She looks like a toddler, yes, but not an 11 month old. I think that maybe Tatiana's parents aren't exactly sure when she was born- she probably doesn't have a birth certificate, as a lot of poor children in these countries don't. So for now I'm going to stick with what I'm told- Tatiana is 8, and will turn 9 on December 9th.
Another change on the family record is the presence of a father- Miguel, a street vendor. On the old report it said her father was unknown. Mother Delfina is now listed as working as a maid- she was a homemaker before. There are several other minor changes, to things like Tatiana's chores and the method they use for cooking.

On the same day, I also received Tatiana's education report. When I received it, I hadn't yet seen the new report, so I was still operating under the assumption that the education report was for a 12 year old. So I was totally baffled when the report said that Tatiana is in the 1st grade, gets good grades, and her progress is "advanced." How could she be 12, in 1st grade, but have "advanced" progress? I thought maybe she was in 1st year high school, which would be advanced for 12...but now that I know she's 8, it makes more sense. She probably got a late start in school but is now making excellent progress and doing very well. Hence, only in 1st grade, but "advanced" progress.

I think Tatiana's always going to be kind of a mystery to me. I probably only feel that way now because I haven't received my first letter from her yet. It should be here in another couple of weeks, though. I can't wait to read what she has to say!

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