[wannabamom]

Hello all,

I've had only one dream in my life- to be a mom since I was about 5 years old- but unfortunately I haven't been lucky to have a birth child and we're going to adopt now. I am curious to know what your thoughts are regarding International adoptions- different genes, heritage, culture, ethnicity, religion, etc..... Do any of you think that the genes/religion will win out (if there's such a thing?????) and the child will eventually blame us if we are of a different religion and bring it up as such????? While I know that there's no easy answer to this or any question with regards to adoption, I would very much want to know some thoughts.

Thanks,

[Spookhill]

My husband and I have adopted 3 from Guatemala. We also had doubts but since bring the children home we realized that no matter what the skin color or religion they are children. When they put their arms around you or look up at you there is no doubt of the love or that they are your children.

[waitinginnj]

I adopted my daughter from Russia. She is of Roma heritage. I am wholly comfortable with us being a family. In a perfect world, she wouldn't have needed a new mother. But that wasn't her world. I chose to adopt internationally.

She wasn't being raised in a traditional Roma culture here or in Russia. I certainly can educate her about it and ensure that she has pride. I can do the same thing with the Russian culture. I am not saying that there isn't some level of loss, but I don't know how positive the culture is for a minority child in an orphanage anyway. We can't ignore the culturan history or birthfamily history with out detriment to our children and our families.

What we can't forget, especially as parents through adoption, is that a child is a unique individual and "hardwired" with their individual personality and sense of self. Our jobs as parents is to provide them with the opportunities, love and hope to develop their unique selves.

[intladoptionblog]

My kids are Cambodian-born, which simply means that Cambodia is part of our family story.
I'm from the US, my husband was born in the UK, our kids in Cambodia, and now we all live in Seychelles.
The world is small, and we're all one people. Divisions are arbitrary and have changed hundreds of times over the course of history.

[Cocerned Father]

Hi,

My wife and I recently adopted an 8-year-old girl from Brazil. We brought her to the US about a month ago. We have just received news that a women, claiming to be the true birth mother has surfaced and is planning to file charges against us. We are very confused and do not know what to do. Our questions are these.



1. If she is the real birth mother, what if anything can she do to us here in the US?

2. If she is the real birth mother, do we have any legal recourse to fight her with?

3. Should we return the girl to Brazil ASAP to prevent this thing from going to far, or she we keep her here and try to resolve the issue from the US?



I thank you for any advice you can give. Please email all responses to: Victor@expertsitedesign.com.

[mickeyreeves]

Me and my husband are considering adopting internationally from Guatemala. We cannot afford this on our own. Can anyone help with any ideas of how we could raise the money or apply for grants and give us good websites to apply to. Thank you.