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Russia Children For Adoption

There was a place in my life where I was in deep thought about what I was doing to change the world. My husband was amazing and I had three beautiful boys, a great home based business I enjoyed and I still did not feel I was changing the world. I felt a strong necessity for parents to come forward for kids did not have any. I made the decision to take in a child myself because after all, I was not a bad parent.

We started on our quest for an international child. Our choice was a Russian boy to add to our growing family of boys. The orphanages are packed with males and sprinkled with a few girls. We received pictures of boys around the ages of four to ten and we set out finding the one we wanted. We grew close to a young boy around the age of five. His name was Alex. He came from the farthest corner of Russia and was said to be a healthy little boy. We sent the money for the fee out directly.

Mounds of papers were sent for us to fill to perfection and have notarized. Some had to carry a seal that shows that the notary we used was legal. The papers were mailed back and more would come in. The cycle would start all over again. Blood tests were due every three months. Our fingerprints were taken and we had a background check done. A homestudy was also necessary. It was requires that we show proof of marriage, the money we made, and we sent in all the forms they asked for.

We got many different emotions from those around us. One individual would be happy about it while another individual would think we were not doing the right thing. The photo that was sent the first time was the only one we were allowed to have. It was explained that the Russians thought we were crazy and should appreciate what we were getting. This photo was now two years old. More time went by and we did not move for a vacation or even think about new jobs because we never knew when we were leaving for Russia.

Finally, the telephone rang and the agency we were using notified us of the need for us to go to Russia within a week's time. This was the same week as Christmas. Our travels would take us away from our family and children to meet our new son for the first time. We were skeptical about it because of not knowing if this was right or not. What had we done? This child might bring something to our family that we had not expected!

It took us over twenty-five hours to arrive. We were put into a van and drove down an icy road to a secluded Siberian building. It took over five hours to reach it. This was to be the orphanage that our Alex stayed in with about sixty other children. The room we were escorted to was a bright green room with large chairs. As we were trying to be patient, the women that were there took off down the hall in a hurry.

All the excitement and travel had really started to creep upon us. It was eighteen hours later than it was at home. We still were amazed that we were in this place.

Finally, the door swung open and a big Russian woman entered with a tiny little boy holding her hand. He was not five as Alex was supposed to be but only about three years old. He was dressed in a shirt and shorts that did not fit him and was not clean at all. This building was very hot and we were dressed in winter apparel. This tiny boy stole our hearts immediately. He said help in Russian. My husband hugged him so tightly, they placed him on his lap, and in no time at all, Alex was laughing aloud.

For three days, we stayed in a very small hotel room with almost nothing in it except for a bed and a chair. In addition, a bathtub did not have clean water. The Russians that were taking care of us asked if we could find someone to take their older sister at an orphanage here. We got as much information as we could about her with the desire to help her. It was soon time to leave our Alex and come home with only a few pictures of him. When we returned, the papers were piling up for us to sign and return. More blood tests were needed. We were waiting until the time we could go back for the official court.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/680820

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Parenting - Adoption And The Challenges Which It Poses

There are currently some 128,000 adoptions in the United States every year and, while this figure may seem to be small, over the years this means that about 1%, or several million, children in the United States today are adopted.

No two parents' experience of adoption will be the same of course but, for many, adopting a child is a long and difficult process, both in practical terms and emotionally, but it is also the fulfillment of a dream.

Thankfully much of the stigma formerly associated with adoption has now disappeared, which is of considerable help to both adopted children and adoptive parents. Nevertheless, bringing up adopted children can still present parents with some unique and very challenging problems.

In many cases the problems presented by raising an adopted child are very real, but often they are more imaginary than real. Take for example the problem of heredity in relation to medical problems. Just how important is it to know that your child might be at greater risk from certain medical conditions? Statistically of course the chances of this happening are low but, even if your child is at risk, what are the real consequences of this? With good medical care and regular checkups most problems will be picked up and dealt with and whether or not the child inherited the condition is often largely irrelevant.

Previous bad parenting, and especially abuse, in an older child on the other hand can present very real problems for adoptive parents, although it is often surprising just how small a part past experiences play in a child's life once he has settled into his new home and a reasonable level of trust has been established.

In many families the main problem encountered centers on the simple fact that the child is adopted and this can often place an artificial barrier between the parents and the child which the parents themselves erect. Many parents wrestle for years with the problem of whether they should tell their child that he or she is adopted and, if so, just when they should tell the child and how. Many parents also fear that telling the child may damage the relationship which they have spent many years establishing.

The truth of the matter is that biology has very little to do with parenting. If you tell your child that he or she is adopted and this results in difficulties then, more often than not, this has much more to do with your role as parents than it does with the fact that the child is adopted.

Keeping the fact that a child is adopted a secret can also present very real dangers because if children discover unexpectedly that they are adopted, especially if this knowledge comes from somebody other than an adoptive parent, this can often cause considerable emotional upset which can be extremely difficult to remedy.

The bonds that develop between children and their parents can develop very quickly and can become very deep and this is equally true whether we are considering the bonds between parents and their natural children or adopted children. Indeed, there is an argument that the bonds which develop between children and their adoptive parents can be especially strong as the simple fact that a child is adopted sends a strong message to the child that he or she is both loved and wanted.

While there is no doubt that adoption does present some unique challenges for parents the rewards from parenting an adopted child can be immense and, as with anything in life, the fact that you have to work a little harder for something makes the joy of success that much greater.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/493987