Our International Adoption Coordinator Megan Montgomery
introduces our all new Waiting Child Newsletter. In addition to our monthly agency wide eNews (to see this month’s edition, click here), Adoption STAR has launched a new newsletter which is focused exclusively on International Adoption and will include a list of children waiting for their forever families. To see the first issue, click here.
Every day there are many children living in orphanages or foster homes whose adoption files have been processed and now they wait for families to offer them a permanent home.
The children, who are “waiting”, often are older, are part of a sibling group or have medical or special needs. For those new to the special needs path to adoption often it’s hard to even know which special needs to consider, while many others may carry the mistaken belief that “special needs” always means a child who will never be able to be independent.
Through my work with many families who have chosen this path as they grew their family through adoption, I have learned that this is not a decision one should take lightly
Parents who adopt children with special needs will need to take the time to decide if they have the emotional, physical, mental, and financial resources to be a successful parent. I have also learned that so many families are the perfect family for a waiting child.
There are varying degrees of special needs children on the waiting child list. Each child has a medical and social report within their file, which prospective families review with an International Adoption doctor of their choice prior to committing to a child. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ or Central Authority) in Bulgaria gives each of the in-country foundations we work with new children approximately every two months. Our agency then has access to the files of these children, allowing the families we work with to consider a child from this group of files. Upon a family’s interest in a particular child Adoption STAR immediately contacts our Bulgarian facilitator to remove the child from the waiting list. Families can be matched with a child at any point in their process to adopt. Once a family decides to proceed with a child referral, a simple application is submitted to the MOJ requesting a specific match to the identified child.
Once matched a family would need to immediately prepare their apostilled dossier (if they have not done so already) for submission to the Central Authority in Bulgaria. The remainder of the process would mirror that of a typical referral, without the wait for a referral time. Since matching can occur at any time in the adoption process, time to completion of the adoption can vary. Some parents may be able to complete their process in about 12 months from when their dossier is registered in Bulgaria.
In my experience, each child is as unique as each family, and while no parent is hoping that their child will know anything less than a perfect existence, there are many types of needs that families find they have the resources and desire bring into their life. The way I see it is that these children are just waiting for someone to believe in them, someone to see past their special needs and embrace the many challenges and REWARDS of parenting a waiting child.
Have you considered adopting a waiting child? Maybe your child is waiting for you to find them right now.
Adoption STAR will be sending out a regular Newsletter complete with information about adopting a Waiting Child and information on children whose adoption files are currently held by the foundations we partner with in Bulgaria. We would love for you to sign up to learn more about the children who are waiting to be matched with families like yours.
To sign up for the Waiting Child Newsletter, learn more about what it takes to a adoption a child with medical or special needs and gain an understanding of the process of adopting a waiting child, contact us at [email protected]
Adoption STAR knows that education and preparation is critical when it comes to adopting and that there are unique factors when considering the adoption of a waiting child. We want to help families prepare to be the best family for their child. Visit our Adoption STAR Bulgaria adoption page to start learning more and consider referring to our self-assessment questions found in our Preparing for International Adoption E-book.
Read Megan Montgomery blog series What to Expect:
- Preparing for International Adoption
- Orphanage Care
- Attachment and Bonding
- Developmental vs. Chronological age
- Post Adoption-Love at First Sight?
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