After the birth of our first son Kyle, Martin and I
knew that we would love to have another child in our lives. Unfortunately, nature
did not work out that way for us. After years of infertility treatments and
months of depression and despair, we decided that adoption could be the answer
to our prayers for another child.
At first, we tried the domestic route. After much run around by county agencies that only led to dead ends, I met a woman who had adopted a child from Russia. After talking to her about her experiences, Martin and I began to investigate the possibility of adopting internationally.
We spoke to several agencies and ultimately after some problems with the agency we originally selected; we chose to work with Dove Adoptions International. We began the process of preparing our Dossier by completing our home study and receiving our INS approval. This part of the process took about 2 months.
In August of 2000, we found our daughter. It was love at first sight. I immediately knew that she was the one for us. It was amazing. After identifying Laura, we completed the remainder of the paperwork required for our dossier and submitted it to Dove. All of our documents were submitted the first week in September. We were told that as soon as our documents were translated we would be traveling to Russia for our first visit to meet Laura. Laura is from a region called Northern Ossetia where two visits are required.The first visit is for the purpose of meeting the child and the second is for the final court hearing. Of course, we met with the usual bureaucratic nightmares that all adoptive parents encounter. When we thought we had everything the Russian government could possibly want other than our first born child, they would come up with some other document we needed.
Finally, in early November, we received notification from Dove to apply for our Visa's to enter Russia. We received our travel date of November 17 and quickly made our travel arrangements. We arrived in Moscow on Saturday November 18. A driver sent to pick us up by our agency greeted us. We stayed with our Russian attorney 's (who works for Dove) mother in her apartment in Moscow. On Sunday, our attorney arranged for a student to come and take us on a tour of Moscow. It was wonderful. We saw Red Square and the Kremlin and went to a shopping mall.
On Monday, we flew to Vladikavkaz, the city where Laura's orphanage was located. We could not wait to get to the orphanage to see her. First however, we had to meet the Minister of Education to obtain permission to go to the orphanage as they are considered closed institutions. It is hard to describe the emotions we felt when we arrived at the orphanage. Seeing her for the first time was so overwhelming. She was so tiny and weak. She was 18 months old and weighed 12 pounds.
We were able to spend 3 days with her in Vladikavkaz
while we completed paperwork and filed our petition to adopt. Leaving her was
the hardest thing we have ever had to do.
We returned home with the expectation that we would be returning for our court
hearing in four weeks. Unfortunately, the holidays slowed everything down and
our court date was delayed until January 23, 2001. We returned to Moscow on
Sunday the 20 and flew to Vladikavkaz on the Monday. Seeing her again was unbelievable.
It was hard to believe she was finally going to be ours and would be able to
come home with us. Leaving the orphanage was bittersweet for us. We were thrilled
to have Laura but deeply saddened by the children we left behind.
In terms of the bureaucracy, everything could not have gone smoother and we were back in the U.S. with Laura on Friday, the 26 of January. I truly believe had it not been for the hard work of our attorney in Russia, things would not have gone this well. He has his own seat in heaven waiting for him.
When we left Russia, Laura was 21 months and only 13
pounds. We are pleased to say that after only one month at home she gained 2
and ½ pounds. She was so weak at first that she could not even sit up.
We learned about a program under the Children with Disabilities Act called Early
Intervention. Laura was evaluated by the agency and qualified for physical therapy,
occupational therapy and speech therapy to help her catch up from her developmental
delays. She started in an Early Intervention program on March 12 where the teachers
are specially trained to assist children with developmental delays.
As of August 2001, Laura has grown 6 inches and is now a healthy 26 pounds. She is running, laughing and talking. Our son Kyle loves his sister very much and we think she feels the same. She has bonded to all of us faster than we anticipated. She has been a dream come true for us. I can not thank Cindy and Randy Nelson for their support and financial assistance throughout this experience. Without people like the Nelsons, our dream could not have become a reality. If I could wish for anything, it would be that more people could take children out of these institutions and bring them into loving homes. This has been the most positive experience of our lives. We hope your experiences will be the same. Good luck to all of you who embark on this journey.
