Well, it looks like we're heading back to China, so I figured I'd resurrect this old blog to share about our journey with those interested.
We did a lot of research, not really intending to go back to China, but ended up narrowing down our options to Ethiopia and China. The week we began to ask questions of agencies we were told that the Ethiopia program would probably be cut by 90% that week! Ninety percent fewer adoptions?! Sad, especially because of the reasons for that cut. So, off to China we'll go.
We've been working on our home study paperwork for the past month and are preparing to submit an application with a placement agency this week (we have to use an IL agency for our home study, then any other agency for our placement - meaning they help place the child in our home). We're hoping to adopt a girl born with cleft lip/palate (CL/P). The boys are absolutely set on having a little sister. I was surprised by this. The way things are working in China, we could possibly travel in about a year, maybe less to pick her up. It all depends on how many girls with CL/P are on the list to adopt.
I recently read that 36% of orphans with a special need in China have CL/P. I also read that birth defects are up by 40%(!) over the past 10 years in China. And it is estimated that 1 in 8 to 10 children born in China have birth defects. Shocking! So many children. The orphanages are being overburdened. "Special needs children get abandoned because of the stigma associated with disabilities and/or because of medical costs. Extended family, espcially the mother-in-law, will insist that a disabled child be abandoned becasue the child is considered unlucky, a curse on the family. Children with visible disabilities will be refused education, and when they grow up will have difficulty finding a job. Medical costs can be too high for a family to bear -- there is no health insurance, no free health care in China." Here is a link to that article: http://www.china-adoption-online.com/lwb.html
I'll try to update our blog as things move along. If you subscribe to the blog then you won't have to keep checking back, you'll just receive an email when I publish a post.
