The adoption specialists at Children of All Nations will be holding an informational Philippines Adoption webinar on May 5, 2016 at 12pm CST.
This is a fantastic opportunity for families that are trying to decide on an adoption program to get an overview of what our Philippines program has to offer! Did you know that this program has both a Waiting Child Track and a Healthy Track?
Take the first step in your adoption journey and register today!
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Welcome Home!
We are delighted to welcome home one of the families from our Eastern European adoption programs! It is always so wonderful to see a child come home to their Forever Family, and we are so excited to see what their future holds! Congratulations from all of us at GWCA and CAN!
Learn more about our Eastern European adoption programs below:
Over the course of the past few years, our Eastern European adoption programs have continued to grow. As such, the Latvian adoption process has become more stable and predictable, and our Bulgarian Waiting Child adoption program has grown immensely! We now have many Bulgarian Waiting Children on our CAN Photo Listing that are in need of Forever Families. If you are interested in learning how your family can be matched with one of these children or how you can begin your adoption journey in one of our Eastern European adoption programs, contact our CAN Matching Team today!
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We are so happy to announce that CAN has recently received THREE more referrals for our Haiti adoption program! We are so excited for these families and their kiddos, as they are one step closer to being united. Congrats to these families from all of us at GWCA and CAN!
Our Haiti adoption program has both a Healthy Track and a Waiting Child program. Our Healthy Track program gives families the opportunity to be matched with a medically healthy child as young as 2.5 to 5 years old! Each year we are given a limited number of spots to fill for this program, and we are currently accepting applications! If you’re interested in learning how your family can join our Haiti Healthy Track adoption program, contact our CAN Matching Specialists today!
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We are so happy to announce that we have just received another referral for our Philippines Healthy Track adoption program!
If your family is interested in adopting a healthy child from the Philippines, this is the perfect time to get started! CAN’s Philippines adoption programs have continued to grow over the past few years, offering families a stable adoption process with a variety of options, including Healthy Track, Waiting Child, and Relative adoptions.
Philippines Healthy Track Program
There our countless reasons that our families choose to pursue Philippines Healthy Track adoptions, however, typically it comes down to the age range and health of the child that they are hoping to bring into their family. In addition to a short and simple travel period, this program provides families with the opportunity to be matched with a medically healthy child between the ages of 2.5 and 15 years old, however, they must be open to the possibility of being matched with a child of either gender.
Philippines Waiting Child Adoption
If your family feels strongly about being matched with a child of a specific gender, we would encourage you to look into our Philippines Waiting Child program. Families in this program have the opportunity to look for their child on the Philippines’ Special Homes Findings List which is released each month. This list has pages and pages of Waiting Children that are in need of loving Forever Families. These children are not matched with families through the Healthy Track program as they are considered more difficult to place based on the fact that they are part of a sibling group, they have a need of some sort, or they have had a difficult past and are in need of a family that is ready to help them move forward.
Start Your Journey Today!
Contact our CAN Matching Specialists today to learn how you can start your Philippines adoption journey!
*Due to the privacy policies in place by the Philippines, the picture shown is a stock photo.
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What an exciting time this has been for both our GWCA and CAN adoption programs, as 10 kids are coming home just on time for Spring Break! Having worked with each of these families throughout their adoption processes, we know how eager they are to welcome their newest members home forever, and we are so thrilled that the time has come. CONGRATULATIONS from all of us at GWCA and CAN!
We are so incredibly happy for each of these amazing families and the kids that they are welcoming home! If you are interested in learning how you can begin your adoption journey, contact our Matching Specialists today!
#WelcomeHome #OrphanWarriorWednesday
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EVERYBODY called me Hilary Clinton. I mean EVERYONE. From meeting creche directors, talking to individuals at The Apparent Project, meeting people on the street, and even some of the older children. Every time I introduced myself to someone they would say, “Oh like Hilary Clinton.” Initially in the beginning I would politely laugh it off but after the numerous times that it happened I really did start thinking how funny it was that the common person they knew to compare me to was Hilary Clinton. Hilary also has a foundation in Haiti so I think that is why most Haitians know who she is.
When you pull out your phone and start taking pictures the response you will typically hear is, “ME! ME! ME!” “PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!” “ME! ME! ME!” But one time I loved in particular was when I took out my phone to take a picture with a little girl and she immediately started making all of these faces. From sticking her tongue out, making kissy faces, and smiling really big. I quickly realized what a pro she was!
Peanut butter is their favorite. I mean FAVORITE. Like do not get yourself caught between the bowl full of it and their eager hands. The first day we arrived we made home made peanut butter with peanuts and a peanut grinder. Most of these children have never had peanut butter and they were not only in love with the taste but also the fact that they could roll in into balls with their hands. It was COMPLETE chaos but the joy in their eyes was something I will never forget. They even proceeded to chase one of the guys making it across the court yard for more!
I met one little girl at a creche we visited around the age of 5. She immediately wanted me to pick her up so of course I had to right?! We walked around outside for a long time and she kept talking in creole and I continued to speak back to her in English neither one of us knowing what the other was really saying. Minutes continued to pass and she continued to talk..I finally asked the orphanage director, “what in the world is she talking about?” He started laughing and said, “she keeps saying she doesn’t know English!” After this we ALL could not stop laughing.
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” -Winnie the Pooh
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If you have read my “
about me” section then you know that I was a Houseparent working with 9 at-risk youth prior to working in the international adoption world. Those children’s ages ranged between 13-18. Before my role as a Houseparent, I worked at a residential treatment center with 30 girls who were between the ages of 14-17. With all of this being said, I have had my fair share of interaction with older children in the foster care system and who are labeled in the international adoption world as “waiting children.” Many days I come to work and this is a hard topic for me. Of course I want EVERY child to find their forever family and in a perfect world the term “orphan” would not exist. But, the reason this is a hard topic for me is because unfortunately a lot of families are only open to adopting younger children. There is a huge stigma that older children will not be as resilient or they will not form attachment, or that the bond just won’t be the same. Now, a lot of this can be considered true, but not just for older children but younger children as well. A younger child may not remember a lot of the past, and yes they may adapt easily in the beginning, but do you know how long the “waiting children” have longed for a forever family? Because I have worked with older children in the system I know the struggles and man can they be hard, but I also know how great the rewards are of breaking down those walls and bonding with a child who has longed for that feeling their entire life (whether they knew that they wanted that relationship or not). Will it be easy? Not always. Will it be worth it? It always was for me! “Waiting Children” constantly see adoptive parents coming to creches and taking children home and wonder if anyone will ever come for them. This is a sad and unfortunate reality. A lot of these older children eventually are even seen as caretakers to the younger children and their whole idea of what a childhood should be is quickly diminished.
While I was in Haiti, I met ALL of the children at the creches I visited and they are ALL incredible! But, there are a few “waiting child” sibling groups I met that really stood out to me and I would love more than anything to help advocate to find them a forever family. To see their photos, visit the CAN Waiting Child Photo Listing, or visit my blog today!
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Our CAN Matching Specialists have just received files for 34 NEW Waiting Children in our Bulgaria and Haiti adoption programs!
Haiti Waiting Children
Our CAN Matching Specialist, Hilary, just returned from her trip to Haiti last week with information on 16 new kids that are in need of Forever Families! If you’re interested in learning how you can be matched with a child or sibling group from our Haiti Waiting Child program, contact her today at hilary@childrenofallnations.com. She has met personally with these children, and would be happy to tell you about her experience!
Bulgaria Waiting Children
In addition to the files that we just received for our Haiti program, our CAN Matching Team has just received files for 18 new children in our Bulgaria Waiting Child adoption program! For this particular program, families can be matched with a Waiting Child at any point in the adoption process. This allows families to be matched right away, making it a relatively fast process overall! Get started with your journey by inquiring about our new kids today!
Due to the privacy policies that Bulgaria has in place, we are unable to share a photo of these kiddos here. If you are interested in seeing their photos, or learning more about them, contact our Bulgaria Matching Specialists visit our CAN Photo Listing, or join our private Bulgaria Waiting Child Facebook group to have updates on the children sent directly to your news feed!
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When we arrived at the airport last Friday in Port Au Prince I soon discovered that leaving Haiti is very similar to the adoption process as we experienced a lot of unpredictable delays. We got to the airport at 2pm for our flight at 4pm. We slowly watched the expected boarding time get later and later. It eventually was pushed back so far that now we were not going to make our connecting flight to Austin. We finally arrived in Miami at 11pm to be transferred to a hotel for the night and back up at 3am to try again and make our way to Austin…
The plane touched down and I felt as if I dreamed the whole trip up in my head. As I was scrolling through all the photos on my phone while I waited to get off the plane I still could not believe the trip had already come to an end. Since I have been back in Austin I have felt an extreme sadness. I am completely heartbroken by the life those sweet children live but I also have a renewed hope for the future ahead. I am constantly wondering what they are doing and how they are feeling. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a child living in an orphanage. Because, I met these kids I was able to learn a lot about their personalities, their hopes, fears, and dreams; I know that any family would be incredibly lucky to add these children to their family. Because of this trip, I am extremely aware of many things we don’t even think to be grateful for like smooth paved roads, lights, hot water, a bed full of pillows and blankets, air conditioning, and much much more. But honestly, I would trade it all to be back in Haiti right now. There are some things in life that completely shake the ground you walk on and this was one of those experiences for me. For a country full of citizens who have nothing in some ways they seem to have a lot more than us. I don’t know if it is their reliance on God that I saw throughout various communities, Espwa for a better life one day, or the fact that they may just not know anything significantly different even exists.
“Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
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Espwa means hope in Haitian Creole and this whole trip I have been hopeful of new connections, updates from IBESR, good news from our rep, and positive movement not only on the adoption front but also in the country. So far keeping the phrase “Espwa” in mind has led us to great success. So far we have gone to Maison everyday getting updates on the children, updates on the kiddos matched, and updates on which children are available. We also visited another orphanage that currently has 130 children and discussed what partnering with them would look like. This orphanage has a lot of children with special needs and it would be amazing to help advocate to find them families. We also ventured out to IBESR and received updates on some of the families waiting. Today we are going to Maison again and also visiting another orphanage on the other side of Port Au Prince. 
The children are amazing and so are the people. The kids love to be held, given hugs, and are constantly hanging on us (and we are soaking up every moment). Looking around the orphanages you see what little things they really have. The children are playing with brooms, sticks, rocks, and random other object they find but even with so little you can see how much “Espwa” they have. Standing outside and watching the kids run under the clothes line full of children’s clothes of all sizes and looking over to see the tarp draped bathing area I really wish I could give them the world. I wish they were not given this life. And, I wish I could change their entire world. But one of my favorite adoption quotes is, “you may not be able to change the whole world, but for that one child the whole world will change.” With this quote in mind and keeping “Espwa” on the brain we all will be able to change the world.. One orphan at a time.
Tomorrow we visit C4C!!
Goodnight from Haiti ❤️
Diedra helping make fresh peanut butter
Hilary playing with the children at Maison.
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