The Journey Begins (for real this time)

After speaking with Jason about "Special Needs China" and maybe why we should pursue this over Azerbaijan, he agreed that he would be open to learning more about this program and the kids. He was still sour over what happened with our previous adoption agency. When they closed, we felt like we were in limbo. My thoughts were, "OK. This sucks! But, it's only money. I will make more. But where do we go from here?" until I spoke with Heidi.  Jason hadn't had the opportunity to speak with anyone at Children's House yet, so he didn't have closer. I had huge reassurance after I spoke with them, so I thought that would be a good idea. Did I mention he was still sour? After some initial communication, he agreed to looks at some kids with me.

Now, let me explain some of the huge benefits to adopting Special Needs (SN) over Traditional or Non-Special Needs (NSN) adoption. With SN adoptions, you pick your child. You have their medical files, which most of the time are fairly detailed. You know who and what (for the most part) you are preceding with. With NSN adoptions, you go through the same process and wait to be matched with a child. The wait to be matched can take anywhere from 6 months to over six years. That is not a typo! By then, you are so desperate you will say yes to any child that is matched with your family. And even then, those NSN children often have special needs that weren't disclosed. You also must remember that what some countries consider special needs are actually not a big deal to us in the U.S. Things suck as birthmarks, minor heart murmurs, "lazy" eye, cleft lip, umbilical hernia (an outy) to more severe special needs. You have to ask yourself what are your resources, support, and what would you be comfortable with. But, I also ask you to look at yourself and figure out if you or other family members have "special needs"? I had eczema as a child. I saw a file for a little girl who had "Minor Eczema" listed as her special need. My daughter, Payton, was born with a heart murmur. Would she be sitting on a list somewhere for years waiting for someone to finally bring her home? Sad and pathetic, but different countries has different views on what is acceptable in their culture. Some just simply don't have the access to the minor, but correctable, medical treatments that we often take for granted.

In short, we were open to pursuing a SN adoptions. Now what? We get to view files. There is an excellent website Rainbowkids.com that different agencies who advocate and place kids with their forever families utilize help advocate for these kids. I looked at HUNDREDS of kids. Some nights I went to bed crying thinking about certain ones. Don't get me started on the YouTube videos. It breaks my heart looking at these sweet faces that all need families. I encourage anyone who reads this to click on the link above and watch the short video. The you will understand.

This is a quote from that sums it up to perfection. Stefani is an adoptive mom and waiting child advocate for CHI.