Domestic and international adoptions are processes that transform lives forever. In recent years, however, the number of international adoptions has greatly decreased. Expenses, time and complications with other governments sometimes discourage families in Georgia, and across the United States, from deciding to go through the international adoption process. One family is overcoming these obstacles in the hopes of bringing a little boy from another country into their home.
After getting married in 2005, this couple wanted to have a child, but was repeatedly unable to. They tried many different methods; each one leaving them disappointed. On a mission trip in 2011, the couple met a 10-year-old boy with a crippled arm. They were amazed at how cheerful he was in spite of all the hardship he had endured. Two years later, they decided that they wanted to try to adopt him.
International adoptions typically involve matching up a family with an adoptive child. This husband and wife already knew which child they wanted. The boy was already living at a school because his mother could not support him and his siblings, but she was now officially ready to sign over her rights. The couple started having fundraisers and other events to raise support and the finances necessary to finish the process. As soon as the final steps of paperwork and background checks are complete, this little boy will have a new life waiting for him in America.
This 10-year-old boy has shown his love for life even amid the trials and poverty of India and his soon-to-be parents cannot wait to see how he reacts to America. Like many international adoptions, there have been difficulties working with the government of the other country and associated expenses. However, this couple, like many others, believes that the chance to bring a child from poverty into a loving family is worth the cost. Georgia families looking into adoption may wish to look into how to overcome the challenges, while also remembering the joy that a successful adoption could bring to someone without a family.
Source: Lynchburg News and Advance, “International adoption: Waiting for a son“, Justin Faulconer, April 14, 2014