This could be a long post, and somewhat disjointed, so I apologize in advance.

Brian and I are expecting our 7th child in just a few weeks… So why am I asking about adoption?

To begin with, I never thought that my family would be built by birth children. I always thought that it would be built through adoption. I was adopted (step-parent), my grandmother was a foster child after the death of her mom, and Nana fostered two children, one of them for three years. There were “female problems” amongst all of her daughters (my 3 aunties and my mother). All of them had hysterectomies by their mid-20s. Nana was 36 when she had hers.

So adoption and infertility were part of life for me from an early age. Brian and I have been disappointed that we haven’t been able to adopt. The doors have kept closing - and now that we have a large family, it has become even more difficult. But it remains on our hearts. And we feel so very blessed with the children God has given us. We know that they are meant for something wonderful. They are - every one of them - so generous and enthusiastic about adoption. They are aware, having walked this road with us, of the importance of family, the importance of doing all we can to help other children experience the love and the joy we have in our own home.

I know that God has been keeping us on a very specific path, though I’m not entirely clear where it’s leading other than that we are supposed to do something to help children who are waiting for families. We have looked at adoption programs for several countries over the years, and were drawn to a few of them particularly - namely Russia and Kazakhstan. But we kept getting pulled increasingly to look at Poland. I grew up surrounded by Polish culture - the town my grandparents lived in is heavily populated with Polish descendants. My step-mom is 3rd generation American - all four of her grandparents are from Poland, a heritage that she has eagerly and generously shared with my family.

There are 20,000 children waiting for families in Poland. Sibling groups of 3 and more are not uncommon. One fourth of the country lives below the poverty line, which accounts for the high numbers of children in care. Interestingly, Poland is the *only* program we’ve ever seen with a stated preference for Catholic families, and the adoption fees are lower (much lower in some cases) than other countries’ programs.

School-aged children, children with special needs (ranging from very minor to more complex), sibling groups, and boys are all hard-to-place. It is these children that Brian and I are most interested in helping. We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to have newborn babes and wee ones in our lives, so we don’t have a desire to adopt a wee babe. There are so many parents who still long for that experience, and those little ones will always have a list of people waiting to adopt them.

Over the years, I have worked with two different orphan hosting programs - as an event planner, and as a host mom. Those were wonderful, meaningful experiences. Although we were unable to adopt our boys (turned down for a homestudy because we homeschool and our family was “too large”), we saw so clearly how much attitudes were changed about these “hard-to-place” kids. Folks (host families and others) saw that these kids were lovable, smart, and could acclimate nicely to a functional family environment. Of course, they were not without challenges, but overall those were quite manageable.

Which brings me to where we are today… Brian and I have been holding on to an idea whose time has come. We are working to establish an orphan hosting program of our own. The name of our organization is One Family Foundation. We are looking for volunteers to help us with various projects, specifically advocacy and organization.

We need help to:

- raise awareness about Poland’s waiting children, including more detailed research work.

- put together the paperwork and channels for the hosting program to work.

- publicize our ministry

- organize at least one regional hosting program sometime in the next 12 months

We are also seeking the talents of at least one social worker, a grantwriter, a lawyer. It would be helpful to have folks who have experience or interest in event planning, fundraising, and PR.

We would also like to hear from adoptive families, especially larger ones. We would like to find social workers willing to write testimonial letters about the wisdom of approving experienced families for adoption of hard-to-place children. We are interested in contacting political leaders in states where family size is arbitrarily limited.

This is an all volunteer effort. Brian and I are funding this with our own money at the moment - principally from the sales of Simple Gifts Magazine, my Home Management Book, and Brian’s income from contracting.

We’re all so busy here, and I understand that folks are already committed to other things. Perhaps you could help get the word out to other adoptive families you know who might be interested in helping. There is a contact link on the website.

And I ask for your prayers for this project, and for waiting kids everywhere.

Posted: 11|18|08 at 8:12 am. Filed under: from our hearth and home, from my heart.
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