FAQS - November 15, 2007

Okay, so this is shamelessly lifted (with permission) from another blog, but it is one of the best explanations of the fate that awaits our girls if we don't move quickly to get them. The obvious answer to those asking why we rush is: Wouldn't you be in a hurry to get your babies home? The not so easy answer is that the orphanage system that they are apart of is taxed to the breaking point. The funds are given to the babyhouses and as an orphan gets older the conditions and the resources get worse. If you are a child with special needs, such as down syndrome, your conditions are frequently the last to receive funds for improvement. Having said this : here is the FAQS lifted from a friend's blog.

Q: Why did you decide to do an international adoption and not adopt one of the kids available here in the US?
A: This seems to be the 'doozy'. The one noone wants to answer and yet it's asked all the time. Here's my stab at making sense :) We originally weren't sure what we were going to do. We thought that international adoption was way out of our league financially, but I opened a conversation line with Andrea at Reece's Rainbow anyway. After looking at a few available kids world wide Mike and I had a conversation that revealed a few important things for us. 1) we definitely wanted to (and felt called to) pursue a child with special needs... Down syndrome if possible. 2) there aren't many kids with Ds in US foster care (interesting, isn't it?) 3) there are children around the world that need homes, but a LOT of kids with Ds in other countries that are available. 4)kids in the US even in foster care are always treated humanely (ok, ALMOST always... but the gov't at least says it's supposed to be humane). 5) kids overseas are often neglected and have no hope for a future, especially kids with disailities 6) children as young as 4 are put into mental institutions overseas and often die by age 10 because of the conditions of their care.

So we quickly realized that adopting a child with Ds from a counry where the child faces a VERY early death was what we wanted to look at. Not just looking for another child for our family- although that is a big part of it too- but looking for a child that would likely not survive if we didn't step in. And no, we didn't want a hero mission. We wanted a rescue. These kids are my heroes.

Now to add a few more questions and answers, specific to us:

Q:Are you crazy?
A: Somewhat, but not because we are hoping to adopt two girls with down syndrome. Every person that I have ever met with down syndrome - no matter what age - are the sweetest, friendliest and most innocently happy souls I have had the pleasure to meet. Raising a child with down syndrome has its challenges but raising any child has challenges. (I'll post ten reasons why you should adopt a child with special needs another day) We are familiar with health issues, developmental milestones and all of the other reasons that people invariably list as arguments for why we shouldn't want to adopt a special needs child, but all the things that they list are just apart of life to us. We wouldn't trade our children for anything in the world. What others see as work, I see as life with my kids.

Q: You do realise that you will have THREE 5 year olds?
A: Yes, we did the math and realise that we are multiplying our little tornado by 2 more and it will seem like there are 5 of them running in opposite directions, but somedays, I will have THREE little helpers. We have alot of support from our family and friends, we are familiar with community resources and we have tag team babysitters lined up.

I'm sure I will think of other things to add, but for now, that'll do.

If there is any questions that you want to ask, please feel free to email me at siochane@gmail.com. I would be happy to hear from you.