People have asked, why are you adopting when you can have your own kids? And, why adoption at all? And, how did you decide to adopt internationally - specifically S.Korea?
When I am interested in a particular family's journey or just want to know them better I ask a lot of questions! I love questions. So, we're answering your questions, even if you haven't asked!
Ever since we both had the desire to adopt, over 10 years ago, we assumed it would be international. Since our adoption desire was planted and grew deeper while we were over seas seeing orphans in need, we felt led towards international adoption! As we broadened our understanding of the need to place orphans in homes, whether that be in the U.S. or abroad, we were open to the idea of either international or domestic adoption.
We prayed about our decision and ultimately felt led to adopt from Asia. Since we have such a strong love for Asia and that part of the world and the wonderful culture and beautiful people and have visited multiple times we finally decided we would adopt from Asia. As we researched, we became overwhelmed at how and where do we start this process? Through the research of where to start the process we were also researching different country guidelines for international adoption.
It basically came down to the fact that we only qualified to adopt through South Korea! It was like God was pointing at the S.Korea program and saying, that's where your baby is :) For example, to adopt from China both people adopting have to be 30 years old in order to start an application (besides the fact that the wait for a healthy child is 5+ years now!), Thailand the couple must be infertile (with medical documentation to prove it). Even S.Korea has some tough regulations (adoptive parents weight restrictions, years married, income requirements). While there were a few other countries in the mix but their adoption programs were somewhat unstable or had very long processes. Most of the restrictions are put there to protect the children but it's also hard not to wonder if the country is seeing this process as more of a business than a way to help kids find a home and family to love them instead of an institution to house them.
S.Korea has an awesome program and we are honored to adopting from there. Some of the benefits for a child that ends up in the system in S.Korea: the birth mother can come to the organization we are working with in S.Korea and have food, a place to stay and medical care for up to one year, the child will be only in one foster home the entire time they wait to be placed with a family, only one child is placed in each foster home, the child will be in the system for at least 5 months in order to allow for domestic adoption (giving the child the opportunity to be raised by a Korean in his/her birth place) and finally the timing and course of the S.Korean adoption system is fairly predictable (which mostly just gives us comfort).
We found this adoption state government site very helpful while researching.
Find other FAQ's here.
When I am interested in a particular family's journey or just want to know them better I ask a lot of questions! I love questions. So, we're answering your questions, even if you haven't asked!
Ever since we both had the desire to adopt, over 10 years ago, we assumed it would be international. Since our adoption desire was planted and grew deeper while we were over seas seeing orphans in need, we felt led towards international adoption! As we broadened our understanding of the need to place orphans in homes, whether that be in the U.S. or abroad, we were open to the idea of either international or domestic adoption.
We prayed about our decision and ultimately felt led to adopt from Asia. Since we have such a strong love for Asia and that part of the world and the wonderful culture and beautiful people and have visited multiple times we finally decided we would adopt from Asia. As we researched, we became overwhelmed at how and where do we start this process? Through the research of where to start the process we were also researching different country guidelines for international adoption.
It basically came down to the fact that we only qualified to adopt through South Korea! It was like God was pointing at the S.Korea program and saying, that's where your baby is :) For example, to adopt from China both people adopting have to be 30 years old in order to start an application (besides the fact that the wait for a healthy child is 5+ years now!), Thailand the couple must be infertile (with medical documentation to prove it). Even S.Korea has some tough regulations (adoptive parents weight restrictions, years married, income requirements). While there were a few other countries in the mix but their adoption programs were somewhat unstable or had very long processes. Most of the restrictions are put there to protect the children but it's also hard not to wonder if the country is seeing this process as more of a business than a way to help kids find a home and family to love them instead of an institution to house them.
S.Korea has an awesome program and we are honored to adopting from there. Some of the benefits for a child that ends up in the system in S.Korea: the birth mother can come to the organization we are working with in S.Korea and have food, a place to stay and medical care for up to one year, the child will be only in one foster home the entire time they wait to be placed with a family, only one child is placed in each foster home, the child will be in the system for at least 5 months in order to allow for domestic adoption (giving the child the opportunity to be raised by a Korean in his/her birth place) and finally the timing and course of the S.Korean adoption system is fairly predictable (which mostly just gives us comfort).
We found this adoption state government site very helpful while researching.
Find other FAQ's here.
1 comment:
I wondered what made you choose S. Korea specifically, interesting.
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