A Child Waits Foundation
Adoption Grants & Adoption Loans
International and Domestic Adoption
Our Families 2021
Domestic Adoption
In 2021 we awarded grants to help 181 children to be adopted from 22 different countries and 27 states in the USA. Some of their wonderful pictures and adoption experiences are recounted below in the family's own words.
Daisy - Texas
We have been in the process of trying to adopt for approximately 4 years. We did foster care for a year and then switched to a private adoption agency. We had one heartbreaking failed private adoption match where a birth mother chose us to adopt her child but then crossed state lines and gave her baby to a different agency to collect more money.
After that difficult experience we decided to keep trying for one more year. We then extended our decision due to 2020 being such an awful year for everyone. We prayed and believed that if God wanted us to adopt he would make it happen. Only a couple months before that end date we had chosen, we received an email from our agency about a baby born out of state with a cleft lip and palate. We said yes that we would like to be considered. We had already submitted our names for several other children who were in foster care waiting to be adopted and hadn't heard anything so we didn't expect any news this time either. Only a couple days later we received a call that the birth mom had chosen us and that we were just waiting for the go-ahead to fly to Texas to adopt a baby girl.
We then learned that she was born at 28 weeks and weighed under 2 lb at birth. Because of this and her cleft lip and palate, the NICU was about to insert a stomach tube to help her get the nutrients she needed because she was not able to get enough through the bottle.
When we arrived on the scene in Texas, we were blown away by how the NICU staff had loved and cared for her for over 3 months. She'd only had one or two visits from her biological family because they lived several hours away from where she was born. Family-wise she had been all alone, but she was already so loved by the NICU staff and by God. The NICU staff had brought in dozens of outfits out of their own pockets so that she would have clothing. They told us about how feisty she was even when she was under 2 lb - how she gave them a run for their money when they were simply trying to change her diaper! She was not only gorgeous, but she was a fighter!
After approximately 100 days in NICU they were able to wean her off oxygen and discharge her to us. We were blessed to stay at the Ronald McDonald House with her until interstate paperwork could go through so we could take her home. There was quite a learning curve, being brand new parents of a now 6 lb newborn who had a feeding pump! We were exhausted but so blessed and felt so supported by the medical team in Texas and also by the Ronald McDonald House.
After about a week, we got approval to go home. Daisy was a trooper on both flights (no airline has direct flights between the two cities we needed) and slept through most of them. Since then we have loved getting to spend every waking moment with her and have learned how to become full-time medical caretakers with all of her medical appointments :-) She is scheduled to have her first cleft surgery at the end of 2021, with many more surgeries to come throughout her childhood years.
We are so beyond thankful to A Child Waits for helping us with our adoption costs. Our costs were more than we budgeted due to our adoptive daughter being out of state and having medical needs. This grant has taken a huge load off our shoulders and will help us get to focus on our sweet daughter and not worry so much about finances during her first year of life. Thank you!!!!!
Thorin - Arizona
On September 3, 2011, Virginia and I began our lifelong adventure together, learning from each other and growing from our mistakes. We began with our most humble of beginnings, living alongside our grandparents in a trailer, to save money, to one day afford a home to fill with as many children as possible. We always planned on adoption but never knew when would be the right time. We spent the next 2 years saving and working multiple jobs between the two of us. In our third year of marriage, along with the hope of starting our family, Virginia discovered what is now the place we call home. At the time this house did not look the part.
The only things good about the place that Virginia and her father could tell me was, that it was on a good piece of property and the house had good bones. They were not kidding, this house needed a lot of love and hard work to make it into a home. After buying this house the work had just begun. Continuing to work multiple jobs to pay for the renovation and working during the night on home repairs, it took an additional 2 years before the house was move-in ready. During those 2 years, we roughed it out in the garage, which we made into a makeshift studio apartment, and lived there, along with our two dogs. Finally, after 4 years of marriage, it was time to move into our new home and start our family together!
We couldn't be more excited. We tried for the first year without any doctor appointments or research. A heartbreaking year passed with no results of starting our family. We broke down and made a doctor's appointment, in hopes of answers. Our first visit was reassuring, telling us that we were young and healthy, but we were looking for answers to why we hadn't been successful. The doctor started doing tests. After two years of test results, our hopes of starting a family slowly started to vanish. As time went on, we continued to be unsuccessful and the tests at the OB/GYN began to get more expensive and more invasive. We tried everything that our town had to offer, including IUI, but we continued to be unsuccessful. With a lot of prayers, tears, and 5 years of trying, we still had no children to call our own.
Virginia and I wanted to open our home and hearts to adoption. Over the years of medical bills and life, adoption fees would be near impossible. We needed help from anyone who could help us start our family and we were fortunate to come across A Child Waits Foundation, who were able to help with our adoption. We were able to adopt our baby son as of July 2021 and we couldn't be happier. For us, to give a child in need a home they can call their own, is what we always wanted. To watch him learn, grow, and know that he is unconditionally loved fills our hearts with joy. We thank you for taking the time to learn our story. We are so grateful for the support given by A Child Waits Foundation and look forward to starting our next adoption.
Dominic - Nebraska
The adoption of our son, Dominic, was finalized yesterday. A Child Waits providing us with an adoption grant assisted with helping us be able to finance Karen taking 11 weeks off work (unpaid) so we could bond and spend every possible minute with Dominic when we brought him home at 3 days old. Knowing we had grant support to assist with so many expenses brought us much relief, as we didn't have to worry as much about money those first months. We are so very grateful for your support!
We continue to learn how to navigate a very open adoption and have grown to dearly love Dominic's birth parents, almost like they are siblings. We are so very grateful to have been connected with them and remember each day that it was only because of their adoption decision that we were finally able to achieve our dream of becoming parents.
The journey of adoption is filled with more emotions than there are words in the dictionary to describe. It is an experience that continues to evolve and grow stronger for us each month. Adoption is about respecting, loving, and protecting your child's birth parents, for they are the true "gift givers" who made the heart-wrenching, selfless decision to put their child's needs and wants above their own. I wish so badly that the negative stigmas attached to birth parents who make an adoption plan could be replaced with positive attributes, as the strength and love of birth parents should be commended and respected.
Thank you again for believing in us, and for providing us with an adoption grant!!
Dominic is just a beautiful little boy, inside and out!