A Child Waits Foundation
Adoption Grants & Adoption Loans
International and Domestic Adoption
Family Stories
International Adoption 2021
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.
Cece - Vietnam
Dear Generous Donors of A Child Waits, These words of ‘thanks’ are truly not enough to tell you what an impact you have made with the generous grant that A Child Waits bestowed upon our family- in our critical hour of need no less. My sweet girl joined our family through adoption from Viet Nam in May 2021 at 3 years old. After a year of uncertainty, delays, and questioning, I was able to travel (and quarantine!) to Viet Nam in April 2021.
Truly, what a remarkable experience to bring my daughter home- but it came with extra expenses, uncertainty about how long I would be in-country, and the fear of a lockdown before and after I was united with my daughter. With only a week to plan, schedule, and pay- it was overwhelming. However, my heart was truly lifted when I received the call just a week before I left that I had, in fact, received a generous grant. In truth, it was in that moment that I knew the universe truly felt my daughter & I belonged together.
After a month in Viet Nam, and now home one month, my daughter loves to laugh, run around, repeat every line of Frozen -in perfect English no less although I know she doesn’t know what it means- and have the security and love of a mother. You are part of our story and for that I am forever grateful. I hope to share the story of A Child Waits with others to know that they truly are doing the best they can to create real stories. Please know it is because of donors like you that our story, and many others, include more happier moments. With great gratitude, Carrie
Quinn - India
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We were able to travel late April and return May 5th with our daughter from India. We are doing fairly well and adapting well to becoming a four-some. We are so so grateful for A Child Waits Foundation and the prayers answered through your organization.
Thank you so much!
Marta, Natalia, Ilie & Alina - Moldova
We travelled to Moldova and we are now home with our four new children. We are overjoyed that we finally have them home with us and are trying now to adjust to our life as a much larger family. The children are amazing and our biological children are a wonderful big brother and big sister to "the littles". Thank you so much for everything your organization has done for these children and our family.
Tatiana & Jicel - Colombia
We traveled to Colombia in March and brought our daughters home 3 weeks later! We’re all doing great and so appreciative of the grant we received. I’ve attached a few photos of our new daughters and family.
Andrei & Galia - Bulgaria
We wanted to share that our two children that we adopted from Bulgaria are home at last! Andrei and Galia are doing very well! They are adapting to the culture, attaching well, and already learning English! They seem very happy to have a family! Andrei, age 13, loves spending time with dad, and is always looking for projects to help with around the house! Galia, age 8, is enjoying playing little girl things with her new big sister, and is enjoying all the extra attention!
David and I (Rebecca) along with our children, Jeniah (9) and Elijah (7) (both previously adopted from foster care) traveled to Bulgaria in February. Due to Covid our trip lasted 20 days as things took a little longer with delays and testing requirements for travel. We were ecstatic to finally arrive back home in America and settle in as a family of six after being away for so long!
Our hearts are full as we watch our children develop new relationships with each other and attach to us as their parents! We are very grateful for your grant agency that helped lift the financial burden of adoption and eased the worry of having a longer than expected stay in Bulgaria due to Covid.
We never expected to bring home a teenager from another country that doesn't speak English, but when we submitted our plans to God's will He surprised us with more blessings than we could have imagined!
Thank you for your grant towards our international adoption!
Indiana & Jackson - Bulgaria
We've been home a week and it's been challenging but wonderful. Thank you for all the amazing work you do for orphans like our boys. Our boys are so pleased to have parents and a family. The older one (Jax) will go Mama! Daddy! and just smile like his face will break. It's so amazing.
Hannah - India
We wanted to introduce our daughter, Hannah Shubhra. Hannah is born May 17, 2018 and is forever in our family on February 26, 2021 after we attended several court hearings in India to become her legal parents. Hannah came home on March 20, 2021 after 6 weeks of adoption finalization paperwork. The 6 weeks in India to bring her home were difficult on our family to be separated from our older two children, but the whole family was brave in their work, especially Hannah as she adjusted to all the new changes.
Hannah is a kind and compassionate girl who loves hard boiled eggs, banana bread, riding in tuk tuks, and pulling her pants up high. She is amazing and we are continually amazed by her courage and strength.
Much love from her PROUD parents.
Santiago - Colombia
We deeply appreciate your generous support of our adoption of our son, Santiago. We were dependent upon grants, such as yours, in order to complete the adoption. God truly provided all we needed for this experience, and we truly thank Him for your generosity and kindness.
Thank you for your love for children worldwide who need permanent families. Your love is shown through your action and giving.
Natalia - Colombia
Dear A Child Waits Board, What an amazing journey this has been! We began our adoption journey in November 2019. The week after our home study visits, we got news of COVID-19 shutting down so much of the world - both near and far. We had no idea what the following months would entail, but we prepared ourselves for a longer adoption process than we originally had anticipated. The week our home study was finalized, we got the call about a lovely 2 year old girl with Down Syndrome in Colombia. We knew right away that we wanted her in our family. We were matched so much faster than we ever anticipated! With this, we worried about how we could afford the coming expenses quicker than we had originally planned. We are continually surprised by the way God provided for us. The week before we left for Colombia to welcome Natalia into our family, we got a call from A Child Waits Foundation saying we would be receiving a few thousand dollars to help with our travel expenses. It still brings tears to our eyes as we think back to that day! It not only relieved a financial burden, but also reminded us of the wide community in support of our sweet child. It was so affirming to know that we not only had our local community, but also a broader community that came alongside us in support of Natalia.
Our trip to Colombia was smoother than we could have ever hoped for! We brought Natalia home to the Seattle area on a midnight flight on March 12th. We introduced her to our other two children, Posy and Felicity, after returning home - and it was love at first sight between the sisters! Natalia, and the whole family, is absolutely thriving at home. Our transition was smooth, joyful and sacred. We attribute this simple transition to God’s grace manifested through practical support of our community and the grant we received from your foundation. Because we received the grant, we were able to spend the time we would have spent fundraising or paying off loans - instead focusing on the emotional health of our family during such a big transition. This is the greatest gift we could ask for! We are immensely grateful for the grant, as well as the opportunity to work with your team! Every person we communicated with - Cynthia, Deanna and Raymona - were phenomenal and edifying in every interaction! Thank you, truly, for everything! Grateful, Ben, Karaline, Posy (5 years old), Felicity (4 years old), and Natalia (who just turned 3!)
Alexander - South Korea
We were in Korea for 54 days! It was long, but amazing for our marriage and our 4 kids did great back home with their grandparents. We got custody June 10th and Alexander has been doing absolutely amazing.
God is so Good! We prayed God would work on his grieving and protect him. He did! Before we left God gave me this scripture from Genesis 18 "Is anything to hard for the Lord?" So we prayed boldly!
We have been home 5 1/2 weeks and he is doing amazing. He fits right in and we are in a good routine. Here are a few pictures! His name is Alexander Michael. Named after my husband and dads middle names. Both of them have had hard parts in their life and are resilient strong men. They are both amazing role models to Alexander.
❤❤Your prayers and financial support have been amazing! We are so thankful for you!
Tali - India
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I wanted to take this opportunity to send you this note of gratitude in your role in helping bring my daughter home from India!!! The process from start to finish took three years!! It was through organizations and people like you, that I was uplifted in the moments of doubt and struggles. Your generous gift(s) saw me through to the end.
April 27, 2021, Talithapriya Emilia became my daughter! Our two months together as mother and daughter have been riddled with struggles and some minor hiccups. When I picked her up in India, Tali was very ill. Due to the Covid situation in Delhi at the time, we were in lockdown at the hotel. The day we landed in the US, I drove to NCH in Columbus, Ohio, to obtain the best medical care possible for Tali.
We ended up spending two weeks together in the PICU. She had a multitude of infections and severe malnourishment. Doctors from many specialties came and helped heal her little body. In time, she came back to life and began to smile and try to bond with her mama! Because of your gift towards this adoption, you played a role in saving her life! Thank you!
In the six weeks we have been home, Tali has become a new child. She is funny and joyful. Trusting and playful. She daily ventures more and more away from me and around the house or park on her own. She enjoys independent play with her friends. She rolls back to say hello every now and then, but other than that she wants me to let her just play on her own with friends and loved ones.
Tali enjoys playing with toy trucks and balls. She loves to go to the park and would swing all day, if I allowed her to! She has even mastered going down slides all on her own. She is not afraid to try something at least once, even if she is timid and a little afraid at first.
Lottie & Elsie - Ukraine
Where has the time gone! It feels like only yesterday that we were asking for your support in bringing two of the most beautiful girls home from a country that had no desire to see their potential or worth. It’s been 3 long, but fast months since we have brought our sweet daughters home! Elsie (RaeAnn), and Lottie (Perla) came to us on the 4th of August.
They came to us shy, quiet, concerned, and very malnourished and sick. Their demeanor was inquisitive to say the least, as each minute with their new family was an absolute new experience. We remained in country for the next 4 days, taking the first flight home after obtaining the required documents to travel to the US. On the 8th of August, we were U.S. bound!
The next 19 hours would prove to be some of the most difficult in all our years of having children. Lottie has never been on a plane, much less ever been confined to anything that she couldn't escape from. She did not much care for seat belts, for being strapped to anything, and made every chance at escaping the keen watchful eye of her mommy and daddy. We found that food and snacks were the way to her heart. We just did not realize that a child with such a small stature could make such a noise when she was out of puffs! Elsie however, began to show us just how truly sick she was. On an 8.5-hour flight from Paris to Atlanta, her precious 14 lbs 2 oz body began to break down all that we had strived to complete. We hade been giving her new baby foods and formula, and all of that was being expelled into her diapers. She was becoming more and more sick each mile we flew through the sky. With the help of the in flight Wi-Fi, we were able to touch base with our amazing medical team here in the states, and begin to formulate a plan.
We arrived back to our home state of South Carolina around 8:30 that night. By the time we landed, we had plans to head straight to the children’s hospital for an evaluation and admittance. This was delayed thanks to the mishandling of all of our baggage remaining in Paris. Elsie and Christian were finally able to get to the hospital, and she was immediately admitted. Her labs were all over the place. She was beyond the normal realms of dehydration so much so an IV took multiple attempts by some of the most skilled professionals. There, Elsie remained for the next week. Her first week in the U.S., with her new family, and she was laying in a hospital bed fighting for her health. She was diagnosed with severe malnutrition, severe dehydration, and re-feeding syndrome. All of these had a positive prognosis being that she was now with her new family who loved her unconditionally. The medical team responsible for her care was adamant that another month in country, without the appropriate care, and our sweet Elsie would more than likely not be with us. The coming days, weeks, and even next month were pivotal with consistent appointments, weigh-ins, and “selfies” taken with all of her medical professionals. We were not only battling the current issues, but a lifetime of health check ups never performed while in country.
Elsie had another instance that landed her in the back of her daddy’s ambulance, the ER, and PICU. After an episode of apnea, she was evaluated and found that she has a congenital issue with her airway. Being as small as she is, and the lack of formidable care in her past, her body is still trying to adjust to what most would consider normal behavior. She has a plethora of specialist whose hearts she has stole, all concerned with her precious soul. There has not been a single life she has come in contact with that she hasn’t touched.
Lottie on the other hand, was beginning to stake a claim in the Family. She was doted upon by her siblings, and grandparents, and was found exploring every inch of the new place she would call home. She was no longer in a proverbial prison, she was free of loneliness and boredom and was free to show the world who she truly is. She is a little girl who knows no bounds. She is very quick to love, giving kisses to virtually anyone who will accept her love. She loves to walk, giggle, ride her brother’s backs, and be the first to get her lunch or dinner! Lottie continues to amaze us each day with a new face, an ability to learn, and blows us away with how fast she picks up on task. She consistently finds something new, and has taken everything she can in with out missing a beat.
Elise and Lottie have rapidly stolen the hearts of each and every person in this family. With minimal effort, these girls have been more of a blessing to us than we may seem to them. We are blessed to be given the opportunity to love them, cherish them, and ensure that they never again feel alone. They are beginning to come out of the shell that they placed to protect themselves mentally and emotionally. While we are dealing with their trauma, it has been a journey that has brought so much joy and happiness in not only their lives but also all of ours. These girls have been prayed for so long, that it’s amazing to see the interactions from our tribe with them. We thank you and your organization for your prayers and financial support in bringing these sweet girls home. We look forward to continually sharing their progress now that we are better settled, and not spending weeks at a time in the hospital. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for these special girls!
Alex - Colombia
We want to express our sincere gratitude for the generous grant A Child Waits Foundation contributed to our adoption. The adoption process and costs were overwhelming at times and your financial support was crucial in helping us overcome these obstacles and bring our son home! He is such a blessing to us and we are so grateful to have him home. Thank you for your financial support and for the incredible work you are doing to bless the lives of children and families around the world!
Valera & Sasha - Ukraine
Back into Drive
Neither one of us remember. Neither one of us remember our first conversation about adoption. It feels like the word was part of us from the first days of our marriage. As a young couple, we dreamt about raising any biological children the Lord would give us, then start again with adopting older children, children with special needs, or a sibling group. We felt a call to adoption and looked forward to the day when that call would become a reality. We didn't know it then, but the Lord knew we didn't have long to wait!
We had two little ones when we both felt an urgent nudge to adopt. The timing wasn't right; we had little ones, college loans and no savings. However, the nudge became an urgent, persistent pulse running through our hearts. Within a few months, we welcomed a precious 16 month old girl from Haiti into our home and hearts. Marie was here on a medical visa and was not able to return to her family due to her medical needs. She needed a family-urgently! It was thrilling to see God work in our family, orchestrating all the decisions and needs.
The Lord continued to give us more biological children, four boys with the youngest having Down Syndrome. As time passed, and more children came along, our call to adopt appeared to be put “into neutral” as my farmer dad described it best. In spring of 2020, we both began to feel the familiar nudge toward adoption. Our hearts were pricked for the older, aging out teens of Ukraine. By this time we had a house full of teenagers. In prepping our teenagers for an adoption, we decided to host teenagers from Ukraine through a summer program. Once again, it was thrilling to see God orchestrate details and we felt His leading to a brother (16) and sister (15). Like everything else in 2020, all hosting opportunities were shut down and we felt the disappointment and even grieved over the plans we had made to welcome these two into our home. However, instead of hosting that summer, we began the adoption process. COVID made it very difficult on all aspects. We experienced several set backs, one included us getting COVID just before our USCIS fingerprint appointment causing a 3 month delay. Throughout the process we kept praying for the brother and sister we had hoped to host. Their picture remained in the kitchen for us to keep their faces before us while their names remained in our prayers- Valera and Sasha.
The Lord's faithfulness was felt with each step in the adoption process. God kept pushing us through. We flew to Ukraine in June 2021 to accept the referral for Valera and Sasha. Words can not express the anticipation felt as we waited to meet the siblings we had been praying for over the last 15 months! We were able to spend two days with the kids before we headed home to wait for court and a return date to bring the kids home. The Lord continued to answer prayer, open doors, and lavish His good gifts upon us. The financial need was a tremendous mountain for us to climb on our own. The Lord used family, friends, our church, and “A Child Waits Foundation” to provide just the amount needed to complete our adoption and fly our two Ukrainian kids home. We returned to Ukraine in September 2021 and after several days of paperwork and appointments, we returned to Indiana with two new teens to add to our crew. Our biological teens and our Ukrainian teens have been tremendous in adjusting and transitioning into a family. We are on a road less traveled and looking forward to letting God take our family and use it to accomplish His good and perfect will. We are so grateful the Lord chose to put our call to adopt back into drive.
Abby - Jamaica
As we journeyed home from Jamaica, we now officially are a family of 5! Our family picture will no longer consist of 4 of us on one side of a screen and 1 on the other. Our arms and hearts are so full! We love our little girl more than she could ever understand! Abby is SO happy to be home! The only thing that has scared her this far is the escalators in the airport! Why do steps move???? But seriously that can be a bit scary!
Abby, she is so full of joy all the time! She loves our dogs and could spend hours with them! She truly enjoys listening to audio books and singing, using a marker as a microphone! Note to self: buy a toy microphone for her for Christmas! Abby has adapted so well and adores her new extended family as well, Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles and many cousins. We decorated early for Christmas because she loves the lights! She begins school soon and is getting very excited for this!
Abby was most definitely the missing piece to our beautiful family puzzle. We couldn't even imagine life without her and we are so thankful God chose us to adjust our life and give Abby a forever family!
To God be the glory!
Sreshta - India
To begin our story, we need to start 9 years ago. Jesus impressed upon our hearts that we needed to adopt soon after we were married. Adopting a child was never a “plan B” for us; it is what we wanted to start out doing. We paired up with America World Adoptions and chose Ethiopia for our country. Little did we know what the next 9 years would hold! We completed our dossier and waited and waited some more. After three years of waiting, we re-evaluated the process and decided it would be best to switch to a different country that had a lower wait time. (After we switched, Ethiopia decided to close international adoptions). We started the India program in 2016. Because of having foster children in our home and working on adopting one of them (Robby, who is now 6) and then having a surprise pregnancy (Grant, who is 3), we had to wait until January 2019 to begin the India adoption process. We completed our dossier in about 8 months. Then we waited some more!
In March of 2020, right before the covid shutdown, I received a picture of a beautiful little baby. I immediately sent it to Aaron and he said, “Let’s go ahead and look at her file.” Because of the lockdown, we had two months to review her file instead of two weeks. We spoke with the international doctor regarding her special needs and also spoke with many other adoptive families that have children with similar needs. We truly felt a peace about saying yes to Sreshta. Once we accepted her referral, it took a year and two months before we could travel to get her due to another lockdown in India. During this waiting time, we were concerned about how we would pay for our trip.
Our agency prepared us that most likely, we would have to stay in country for over a month or take two trips. This led us to looking at grant agencies. We didn’t feel like we would qualify or that we would be considered for help with our adoption. But, God provided through two agencies and many generous people. It truly was a great reminder that He is watching over us and provides for our every need. We had so many court dates that were scheduled and then rescheduled for the next month, that we felt hopeless that we would ever have our girl home. And then, we finally received news that we would be travelling for court at the beginning of September! We were overjoyed and had to figure out if we were going to be staying the whole time to foster or if we would be making two trips. Eventually, we decided on one. We knew we would probably be in India for 3-4 weeks or longer. We couldn’t even prepare ourselves for how difficult it would be to away from our two boys for that long!
We left for India on August 29. We had a beautiful surprise send-off from family and friends at the airport at 5:30am! Our first flight was delayed, which caused us to miss our flight to India. However, we were able to still fly out later that day. We finally arrived in Delhi the next day. To say that the Delhi airport is confusing, is the biggest understatement of the year! We finally made it through immigration, another covid test, losing our luggage and trying to find the airport hotel. We were exhausted. What kept us going was that we were going to see our girl in less than 2 days! After another flight, another hotel, buying new clothes, and driving four hours, we arrived in Adilabad to meet our Sreshta. It’s so incredibly difficult to explain the emotions of the first meeting. It was something we had been praying for and waiting for nine years. My heart and soul felt the magnitude of this. She was amazing from the beginning. She immediately was drawn to Aaron, but wanted little to do with me (Katie). We then took her to the court hearing. We were at court from 10am till 3:30pm, when the judge finally decided to see us. And then we were given verbal approval! It was hard to believe that our daughter we had just met was ours forever at that point.
Next we drove five hours to Hyderabad. We spent the next 2 weeks fostering Sreshta while waiting on the written court order, article 23, birth certificate and her passport. We loved getting to know her better every day and experiencing all the “firsts” with her. We also did some site seeing while there, Charminar, Chowmahalla Palace, Golconda, and the zoo. During this time we missed our boys so very much, but enjoyed spending one-on-one bonding time with our little girl.
After that, we flew to Delhi to finish our appointments. There we did her medical exam, FRRO, and Visa appointments. While in Delhi, we were able to connect with several other adoptive families. It was amazing to have an immediate bond over a shared experience. And it also really helped to go through those appointments with other Americans, who also didn’t know what they were doing! We decided to go to the Taj Mahal while we were there… and it did not disappoint! It was quite an experience; one we will not easily forget. We also visited the Agra Fort, which has a unique history and beautiful architecture. And then the day came for us to come home!!! Our hearts ached to be home as a family of five. Our process to go home and flights were seamless. Everything worked out perfectly and we were thrilled to finally be able to lavish our boys with hugs and kisses and introduce them to their new sister.
We have now been home four weeks. I am finally feeling somewhat settled, and Sreshta is finally a big fan of mommy! Haha! The boys are enjoying their new sister, except when she takes the attention off of them. She is doing really well at our home; she enjoys eating most of the same foods we eat and sleeps really well. She’s had two doctors’ appointments to help us with some of her special needs and will soon receive glasses to help with her eye condition. We know we have a long journey ahead, but looking back at the long journey to get her, I feel like we can accomplish anything! We are so blessed to have such a beautiful gift from God and look forward to seeing her grow up and experience many more “firsts” with her!
Alexi - Thailand
We traveled to Thailand between 11/25/21 and 12/23/21. After meeting Alexi for a couple of hours each day for two days, we took placement on 12/1/21. It has been going very well. He’s quite attached to Josh and me (prefers me most of the time), but his relationship with Rami is slower. Yesterday was the first day they actually played together. Prior to that, they preferred having a parent one-on-one and competed for attention and toys. Our agency said that we need to focus on his attachment to us parents and the sibling relationship will happen naturally.
We have learned so much about Alexi’s personality and he is such a joy. He loves to sing and dance and in Thailand, he would use any toy as a microphone. He loves Spider-Man and airplanes. He loves clowning around and if he’s trying to show you something funny, he won’t quit until all family members look at him.
I also learned that he is very sensitive to behavior corrections, even if it is a light “be gentle” from me. He gets quite upset so I still correct him, but comfort him when he is upset. In these early days, we need him to trust us and feel loved so we aren’t worried about “spoiling” him right now. Above are some photos of us in Thailand and home.
Thank you so much to your foundation for assisting us with paying for our adoption. Our family is now complete and we enjoy every day with our boys.
Micah - India
Thank you so much for financially supporting our adoption and helping us bring our beautiful son home!
We are so thrilled to announce that we finally welcomed our son, Micah, into our family on September 21, 2021. We spent 10 days in India picking him up and going to necessary appointments to get Micha's US visa to come home.
Micah means "who is like God". This name is so descriptive of all that the Lord has done in our hearts through the adoption process and in Micah's life. He has shown us that his love, care, plans, faithfulness, goodness, and presence in the details of our lives are truly like no one else. Our prayer is that Micah would deeply trust this good and dependable God with all of his heart. Jai is Micah's middle name and is the Hindi word for "victory". Micah is silly, active, curious, has the best smile, loves music (especially the Indian song "Jai Ho"), and gives the sweetest kisses. He is so precious to us and we all look forward to loving him forever.