FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    August 26 , 2005

Foreign Adoption: A Roadmap to Family   

By John Perry, FRUA Outreach and Advocacy Chair

           Foreign adoptions are a fairly recent part of the American culture and adoptive families and society alike are still learning about the needs and demands of internationally adopted children.  Parents working their way through a foreign adoption face a number of challenges.  At the start, there is the cost, the paperwork and the travel.  These challenges are followed in turn by complications that occur in a child’s home country.  And once back at home, the new parent has to deal with a variety of questions ranging from their child’s likes and dislikes, to school, to more difficult areas like attachment issues and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

            The adoptive parent, regardless of where they are in the adoption process, faces needs in three areas:  education about the process itself and the needs of adoptive children; support from other adoptive families who have experienced the rigors of raising an international child; and, finally, advocacy, to help lobby schools and governments about best ways these new young Americans can be served by the education system and community networks.

            Potential adoptive parents owe it to themselves and their potential future children to educate themselves as much as possible about the challenges of raising a child who has been institutionalized in a different country and culture.  It is not uncommon for a child placed in an orphanage to have been exposed to alcohol or drugs during the pregnancy of their birth mother or to have suffered from neglect or even abandonment in the early weeks of their lives.  Poor prenatal nutrition and malnutrition can also take a toll.  Orphanage staffs are often hard-pressed to meet the needs of the children in their care.  Most children from such circumstances can begin to thrive when they are adopted into loving, structured homes.  But as the journey home comes to an end, the journey to becoming a family is just beginning.

            Support for such families is critical.  Adoptive parenting is parenting with a twist, and a really effective roadmap for adoptive moms and dads is still being charted.  But experienced adoptive parents, who know about the resources available for adoptive families, can help point the way in getting a child the intervention he or she requires- whether it is with special education in the schools, information about fetal alcohol issues or difficulties with language or attachment.

            The third need is advocacy.  Adoptive children, whether in the United States or in some foreign land still awaiting their new moms and dads to come and take them home, need someone, whether it is an individual or a group, to speak on their behalf.  A newly adoptive child in the United States will likely have developmental delays and emotional issues that even the most seasoned school professionals might not understand.  Children awaiting adoption in some distant corner of the world need someone to push for adoption processes that are fair to them, the citizens of their own countries and to the families in the United States that hope to make those children their own.  Agencies need to continue to work with adoptive families for the long term.

            In serving these needs, organizations of adoptive families, like Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA) serve a singular purpose.   FRUA has chapters in locations all over the United States with their own activities, publications and resources for new families. FRUA hosts an annual education conference every fall.  This year’s conference is set for Newton, Massachusetts September 30 and October 1.  Experts on several topics will be on hand to discuss challenges and solutions, and more than 200 people with an interest or connection to foreign adoption will attend.  More information is available on the FRUA web site at www.frua.org

The experience of adoptive families, both in the countries where they adopted their children and back in the United States as they work to raise their new kids, provides that needed road map for others making the journey.  The end of that journey is not just a physical home, but a chance at a happy and fulfilling for a child who might otherwise have been consigned to an existence with little, if any, hope. The path these parents and children follow requires that a solid infrastructure of education, support and advocacy be in place- because the end of their journey is no place less than a family.