[momto2gals]

Hi there,
were are in the process of adopting from Poland. Poland obviously is a very catholic country and I thought I had once read somewhere that many of the children in orphanages are already baptized. Does anyone know if this is true?

Also, just curious...do most people change the child's name? If so, is this done in Poland?

Thanks so much!
B Brach

[lastpaige]

I think it depends on the orphanage and the situation of the children before they arrived. Our boys came from a regular (not a Catholic) orphanage and while at one point we were told they were baptized, there were never any records to indicate that this was so. So – upon arrival home we had them baptized at our (CREC) church.

Name changing issue alert!

The plane ticket must match the passport. So – if you know what their names are going to be before you buy their plane tickets home, then great – you can purchase tickets in their new names, and the court will change the names for you in Poland, and their passports will be issued with their new names.

While we had some ideas, we didn’t solidify the name selection until after we met our boys. So – the plane tickets and passports were issued in their original first names with their new last names. Once we got back home, we re-adopted (although not required by our state, it did offer some perks), at which point we were able to change their first names, give them middle names, and they (of course) kept their new last names.

Once we had the boys 24/7 (in Poland), my husband read bible stories (about people who received new names from God after a big change or event in their life) to the boys each night before going to bed. After several nights of this we sat the boys down and talked about how they were going through a big change in their life and that we were going to give them new names. They thought it was fabulous, and love the fact that along with their new names comes a new life. They also like that parents name their children – and if we’re giving them new names, then they most certainly must be our children.

[momraine]

My son had actually been baptized twice. We found this out after we got all his paperwork. We had both certificates. He was moved from one orphanage to another when he was only six months old and it seems both baptized him, and with two different middle names. (there was none on his birth certificate) We kept his first name because he was very attached to it, he was really not sure he wanted to be adopted and go live in a strange country. We changed his middle name to my husbands first name, which he is very proud of.

[hylo]

I'm just going to address the name change issue because I don't know much about baptizing.

We changed our children's names, but kept their first name as their second name to ensure that their Polish background is always maintained.

It was easy to introduce them to their new names because we simply said, "in Poland your name is...and in America your name is..." They never questioned it. They liked their new names, and six months since the adoption - they no longer remember their Polish name. It's just listed in their passport so when they grow up they'll know what their names were.

All three have meaningful names related to our family and to them, but they're still not at an age where they can fully understand this.

[MN_Mom]

Our son was in a public orphanage, but was baptized (we received record of the baptism). Seperate question - his baptism was on Christmas Day... does anyone know if this is common?? It seemed strange to me..

On the name change - we did change our son's name. We bought his plane ticket in his Polish name as we were not planning to change it, but changed our minds once in Poland. It was absolutely no problem to call the airline and have the ticket changed to his new name.

~sarah
based on a true story...

[lastpaige]

That's neat that you moved their Polish firsts to the middle to keep a little Polish in there. Our boys have new Polish first and middle names.

[Mom2_4]

Despite being in a Catholic orphanage, my trio weren’t baptized. We kept the two youngest Polish names and the oldest was renamed to the English version of his Polish name. His formal Polish name would look feminine to Americans.

[LisArno]

We kept all three of our children's original Polish names/spellings as their first names. The names of our youngest two are also American names, though spelled differently, so I chose middle names that would also be Polish/American. Our oldest child's first name is quite Polish (there's an OLD American equivalent), so we kept that and gave her an American middle name. We gave all three children the choice of what we actually called them, though our oldest greatly influenced the younger ones. After a few back/forth times, the youngest are called by their original names and the oldest by her middle name, though she signs her papers in school with her first name.

The name changes were done in Poland. We made two trips, so we were sure of the names prior to making flight reservations to bring our children home on the second trip.

It's obviously a very personal decision about names. For me, I did not want to take away the Polish part of "who they were". However, I also understand other parents who want their children to have a fresh start with a new name.

[jola_nyc]

I have the similar question. The baptizm certificate is issued in the child previous name. What you do about it since your child will need this certificate in the future?

[lastpaige]

You'll have the adoption paperwork proving that the child that used to be, say, Slawomir Parobij (at baptism) is the same child that is now Steven Jones.