Introduction/ Concerns

So your interested in adopting from Haiti? That's great! The most important advice I can think to give someone is to pray, pray, pray, pray!!! Make sure it is really God that is leading you to make this decision. Once your sure of this pray some more. :) Ask God to make it clear to you what his plan is... how many children? What orphanage? Which children has He chosen for you? Should use an agency or adopt independently?

This blog I hope will be most helpful to those who choose to adopt independently. This is the way we did it and for us it was a must because of financial restraints. If you are using a good agent you are not likely to need much help from this blog. :)

Concerns:

It's a scary and exciting thing to take the first steps in adoption. I encourage you that if you truly know this is what God's calling you to do that everything WILL fall into place and He will provide your every need. I have found that the biggest concerns have been the following:

Can I handle ___ # of kids? We have 3 biological children, and are at the end of the adoption of 3 siblings from Haiti. God made it very clear that these children were to be part of our family but I still had the fear of wondering how I would handle it. When I had one bio child and was pregnant again I wondered "I can hardly handle one, how am I going to handle 2?" When I was pregnant with my 3rd child I was very nervous thinking "I can barely handle 2, how am I going to handle 3?". At the beginning of the adoption I had great fears about going from 3 to 6. To me that was a huge jump. God has taken away that fear for me and I'm left with the comfort of knowing that I am not alone in this and it is nothing to fear. Plus, after being on adoption chat sites long enough you will learn of families with 15 kids, half of them special needs, and all of them home schooled! I'm totally serious. :) Suddenly you realize that if others can do what they are doing, then with God's help you can certainly handle this!

HOW WILL WE AFFORD THIS?
You are not alone. Almost everyone that starts out in adoption does not have the money and has NO CLUE where it will come from! Again, if God has called you to this- trust that He will be the provider. Move forward in faith, doing whatever you can do and pray about provisions. You will be absolutely stunned at the way the money is always there when you need it. Don't try and figure out how it's going to happen because God goes beyond your wildest imagination!! I have heard story after story of people that have started out with no way to pay the adoption fees and have received every penny in the most incredible ways. Maybe in a later post I will share how God did this for us and ask others to share as well. It certainly would encourage and inspire you! Now that we are at the end of the adoption, if I could go back and change one thing it would be that I would not have wasted so much time worrying about the money and a lot more time having faith that it would come. God's grown me a lot through adoption. It is a great time to really grow in faith and patience!!

CAN I DO THIS INDEPENDENTLY?
Most orphanages will work with you independently. The orphanage we are using is New Life Link. It will mean that you do not pay someone to hold your hand, tell you exactly what to do, and fill out some of your paperwork for you (I've gotta admit there were many times I had wished for this, and if finances are not an issue for you- you may want to consider this as an option!), however, with the help of others you can get answers to almost any questions. I will do my best to put on as many tips and examples as I can on this site. Different states and orphanages may require different things, and the laws change constantly so you can use my blog as a guideline but it is best to check as much as possible with people that are adopting or have adopted from your state, as well as from the same orphanage. In my opinion the BEST way to do this is to get on some adoption chat sites. The one I would recommend the most is- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HaitianAngels/ It currently has 1007 members that have adopted or are adopting from Haiti and have been my greatest resource and help. This group includes families that are all around the world and adopting from many different orphanages. Because of this you are likely to be able to get recommendations on different orphanages, the laws of your state, recommendations for an agency to do your home study, and SO MUCH MORE! Because there are so many members, after you join, you may want to go to the site and edit your membership to receive daily digests instead of individual emails. Also, look into joining a group that is in your state or area, and additionally a group of people that are adopting from just the orphanage that you choose- this will be very important for when you have specific questions.

Over time I will be adding more and more to this blog. I hope it will be a great blessing to you.

Joyfully, Angela