A Break in the Action

In looking back over the chain of events, there was a lull in the action from about March through September 2010….on the adoption front, that is…there were plenty of other things going on around here during that time.  We had a baby.  She’s pretty great.

 

Ethiopia, Here We Come

Haiti was out of the running as our adoption destination.  We continued to talk with three adoption agencies, asking them about the areas/countries with greatest need and clarifying which countries would accept us as prospective adoptive parents based on our family demographics.  Ethiopia came up in those conversations repeatedly. 

Hmm…Ethiopia.  Along with our small group, we had been financially sponsoring two children from Ethiopia for the better part of three years through the organization Food for the Hungry.  However, if given an unlabeled map of the world, I could no sooner put my finger on Ethiopia than Armenia.  I had, obviously, heard about Ethiopia on the news over the course of my lifetime, the very name of the country ringing synonymous in my head with famine and starvation.  Was it possible that this was where God was leading us?

Ryan dove into research mode and became very well-informed about the worldwide orphan crisis and the orphan statistics in Ethiopia, specifically.  As a refresher, here’s what he learned… Ethiopia is one of the four poorest countries in the world, with 80% of the population living on less than $2/day.  There are ~5 million orphans in Ethiopia (which is one in every nine children).  Because of the extreme poverty in the country (and the resulting disease and malnutrition), 1 in 10 children die before their first birthday, and 1 in 6 children die before age 5.

When Ryan shared these statistics with me and said that he was really interested in adopting from Ethiopia, I think my response went something like, “Ethiopia is a long way away…How many hours would that be by plane...What?!!  1 in 6??!!  That’s just not acceptable.  We’ll go.”

So, Ethiopia it would be.  By this time, we had narrowed our search to two adoption agencies.  They both seemed like really wonderful organizations.  In an effort to decide between the two, we talked with families who had used each agency.  Both families had great things to say about their respective agencies.  Finally, we decided upon Children’s Hope International as the agency on which we would rely to help us facilitate our adoption.

Sarah

Would it be Haiti?

As we initially researched countries from which we might adopt, we immediately leaned toward Haiti.  As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti had a tremendous need for adoptive families for its 400,000 orphans.  Plus, its proximity to the United States made it seem logistically reasonable for us to invest more time and personal resources into that country in the future, as was our intention in the country from which we would adopt (in the form of mission trips, child sponsorships, funding water wells, taking our entire family to visit the homeland of our youngest child, etc). 

However, we ran into a little wrinkle for which I was unprepared; Haiti didn’t want us.  Each country that is “open” to American families for adoption, has its own requirements for adoptive couples.  Haiti required adoptive parents to be at least 35 years-old and accepted families with no more than 2 children already in the home.  (Because quite obviously, having a perky 33 year-old mother would be a detriment to any kid, and having three siblings would be quite a bit more dangerous to the overall well-being of a child than living 18 years in an impoverished institution.  Forgive my sarcasm… I’m sure Haitian officials thought through these requirements thoroughly and had good reasons for them).  We continued to talk with various agencies about Haiti, hoping that someone would deem us worthy parents and know of a legal loophole which would allow us to adopt from that country. 

Then on January 12, 2010, the devastating earthquake hit that country.  Our hearts absolutely broke as we watched the images and heard the stories coming out of that country, knowing that we had such a deep desire to help, even one of these desperate, dying children.  We hoped, for a moment, that this tragedy might prompt the country to ease their adoption “restrictions” so that we, and other prospective adoptive families like us, might be able to help serve the sudden, tragic influx of orphans.  However, in an effort to protect against child-trafficking and improve a federal adoption regulatory system that was already rather broken and inefficient, adoptions out of Haiti were halted.  We took this as clear confirmation to pursue another country.

Sarah