Finding Forever Families

Sometimes finding families for certain children is hard..like really really hard. It takes a lot of creativity, determination, and passion to help these children find families that will give them and show them the love they deserve. In international adoption the most difficult children to place are those with special needs, older children (especially boys), and larger sibling groups. Many families who follow my Haiti blog know just how big of an impact older children have made in my life and advocating for them is a large portion of what I do EVERYDAY.

Today, I visited an orphanage with older children. As we walked towards the building we saw a couple of older boys peaking through the curtains and they began yelling to us outside. As we started getting closer the children opened the doors and greeted us with very happy hellos in their adorable accents. Now, prior to us walking up our rep told us that the young boy we recently received information on to start advocating for will be one of the children at the orphanage. I instantly became more excited because it is completely different to be able to meet the child in person that you are advocating for and if I can find him a family it makes it even more special. Since he is a 12 year old boy I knew that many families would be more interested in him if I had personally met him. Anyways, our rep went on to say that the orphanage director had to have a couple of talks with him because he thought we were coming from America to adopt him. Wait…Did I hear our rep correctly? This young, sweet boy thinks I am coming to adopt him…My stomach instantly dropped. Our rep said that the children are conditioned to think that when people are coming from the states it is solely to adopt someone. The director reiterated to the child that I was coming to meet him and help advocate but we would not be adopting him and he would not be leaving with us today. Talk about breaking my heart. Apparently the boy did not actually believe she was telling the truth until our rep arrived with us and again confirmed with him that we were just there to help advocate. These are the realities often forgotten when it comes to older child adoptions. They wait…and wait…and wait..for a large majority of their lives to be adopted and they know that with every passing day their chances become smaller and smaller. Can you imagine being a 12 year old boy and thinking that a family might not be in the cards for you? Whenever we receive files for children from Bulgaria I have two months to advocate before the file is returned. The young boy told our rep today, “TWO MONTHS?!? That is too short. I need a longer time to find a family.”

Well kid, I agree. So, after meeting this spunky child with a small mohawk, a smile that lights up an entire room, and knows that he wants a family I would say it is time to hit the ground running and find him a forever family. The clock is ticking and all we need is YOU.