The most common countries for international adoption by parents in the United States for 2007 were China (5453), Guatemala (4728), Russia (2310), Ethiopia (1255),South Korea (939), Vietnam (828) Ukraine (606), Kazakhstan (540), India (416) Liberia (353), Colombia (310), and Philippines (265). Other less common countries include Bulgaria, Norway, Australia, Kenya, Canada, Haiti, and Poland. These statistics can vary from year to year as each country alters its rules; Romania, Belarus and Cambodia were also important until government crackdowns on adoptions to weed out abuse in the system cut off the flow. Vietnam recently signed a treaty openings its doors for adoption. Guatemala has recently closed its doors.
I got a first-hand experience of the international adoption process, as well as the after-effects of it and the process of the assimilation that the adopted children and their parents have to go through, when I was volunteering for a non-profit organization Reach Orphans with Hope in Birmingham, AL. This organization raised funds to support several orphanages in Ukraine. They also funded a summer hosting program for orphans, during which groups of kids from different orphanages would come and live in Birmingham for a month while doing lots of fun things, travel to the beach at Golf Shores, shop, visit museums and various places of entertainment, and most importantly meet families who could potentially adopt them. As a result, about 90% of kids who visited were later adopted by the families from Birmingham area most of them were teenagers. Currently there are over 70 Ukrainian kids (some of them already in their early 20s) who live in Birmingham area and got there because of their adoption through this program.
In 2007 some parents decided to collaborate and start a home school program that would help newly adopted teenagers learn new language and adjust to new culture in a safe atmosphere before "releasing" them to the severeness of public high schools. I was one of the Ukrainian teachers/translators in this special school. I did volunteer work with this organization for two years and met quite a few children and families that went through the adoption process. They all had different after-adoption stories: some happy, some sad.. i still keep in touch with most of the families and kids. it's interesting where they are in their lives now..some are doing really well and some are not so well..
I can say a lot on this subject..Main things I learned:
- a lot of people romanticize adoption greatly, and sadly some of them do it to feel better about themselves and feel like they are heroes rescuing a dying child from a third-world country, it feels like some famous people do it as a way of self-promotion
-international adoption process takes up to a year and costs a whole lot of money (for example about $30 000 to adopt one child from Ukraine ), however the actual process starts after the child is brought to the US, this process can be extremely painful to both sides and may take entire lifetime..
-the more i think about it, i believe that local adoptions are so much more effective and better for the child than international ones especially when it comes to teenagers...cultures, mentalities, ways of perceiving and looking at things are so tremendously different..some kids never grow to love their new homes, and move back when they get older..parents' main mistake is that they think they are rescuing a child from a horrible poor place, while for a child it is a home with friends and favorite things they are used to like food, music, movies, etc..
-i do think that adoptions are great, and i support them! as much as possible i would like to support this cause in my country, and hopefully adopt a child (or several) later in life.
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=27633
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-04-13/health/children.adoption.mental.health_1_orphanages-disorders-adoptive-grandmother?_s=PM:HEALTH
http://www.parents.com/parenting/adoption/stories/
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