The Little Girl Left Behind
Our adoption story of Caraline is one that will bring tears
to your eyes. We were first introduced to her in March 2002, during the adoption
of our son, Brady.
Our first meeting with her was Brady's last meal at the orphanage. As we waited for his food, we were told that his best friend would be bringing in his meal. When the door opened, there stood a three year-old little girl, with a big smile, carrying a tray of food. She was beautiful and took our breath away. She had olive skin, big brown eyes, long brown hair and a smile that stole your heart. We were told that she had not only been Brady's best friend, but also fed, dressed and watched out for him while he was in the orphanage. We were heartbroken and devastated to leave her behind but we knew that it was impossible to take her home with us.
After we returned home and settled into our new roles as parents of a two year-old, we could not get the little girl left behind out of our mind. We knew that there was a part of our family missing. We contacted our local adoption agency and asked if there was anyway we could find out if the little girl was available for adoption. Things did not look too good for us since we were not permitted to take pictures of the children in the orphanage nor were we given any names. We did however, have a picture of the orphanage worker who would know which little girl was our Caraline.
Several
months passed and we were told there was no luck in the search but we were welcome
to adopt another child. We chose to keep waiting. In late April 2003, we received
a phone call that Caraline had been found and was available for adoption. Without
hesitation we accepted her referral and a few days later we received a picture
of the little girl left behind.
Our
choice to adopt Caraline was not a hard one to make but financing it was going
to be a challenge. We still owed over $14,000 in loans from Brady's adoption.
We exhausted our 401 K plans, cashed in investments, and used our savings, but
we still did not have enough to pay for Caraline's adoption.
We were able to make the adoption possible with the assistance of A Child Waits Foundation. With the help from A Child Waits Foundation we were able to bring the little girl left behind home on October 4, 2003.
