How did you get to China?

Throughout our first adoption process, we were often asked why we chose the country we chose.  Sometimes we were simply asked why we did not adopt in America.  There are so many factors involved. 

First and foremost, we believe in the worth of every child, American or not.  We believe wholeheartedly from what the Bible tells us that God loves and values children.  His love is never restricted based on race, nationality, gender, etc.  We all came from Adam, right?!  :)  And seriously, if we're going to restrict the child that comes into our family based on geographical location, does that mean we must be specific and only adopt within our state?  Should we narrow it further and only adopt within our county?  City?  You get my point.

The next step in the process was finding an adoption agency.  Through the first process, we basically found the closest ones to us.  After some research, we decided to proceed with All Blessings International, or ABI.  We began by looking at domestic adoptions.  Our social worker did advise us that a birthmother seeking a family for her child might not choose us because we already had biological children.  She might feel we would love the children differently.  While we knew this would not be the case, we could understand a birthmother having those feelings.  We did not want to wait through the uncertainty of being chosen, so we then moved to international programs.  Timeframe, age of child, cost of the process, travel requirements, and medical information available were all big factors in our decision to go through South Korea. 

This time around, we started by investigating the possibility of adopting through the foster care system.  In consideration of our other children's ages, we wanted to adopt a child under the age of 4.  We found that eighty-five percent of children in foster care return to their biological families.  Those that are placed for adoption in the age range we desire are typically adopted by their foster families.  We just have such a sense of urgency, so we started looking at the international avenue again.  We knew we wanted to work with ABI again.  There are agencies out there who are, unfortunately, in the "business" of adoption.  It's about monetary gain.  We knew from our experience that All Blessings was not like that at all.  They are all about the children, and do a vast array of humanitarian work to advocate for the orphans.  We reviewed the programs they offered, because different agencies have different international programs available.  Because of our mission work in orphanages in El Salvador, we have a huge burden for children in institutions.  (El Salvador, by the way, does not have a functioning international adoption program for non-relative adoptions right now.)  We were drawn to several programs - Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti.  We met with our friends at ABI and found China's Special Needs Program was a possibility as well.  We asked all our questions, and went home to prayerfully consider the options.  As we contemplated the decision, we weighed the costs, travel requirements, timeframes, and age of children available, and felt China was the way to go!  And that, is how we got to China!

Smiles!