An International Adoption Story

By Lisa Greenwald

Let me introduce the newest member of our family: Leah Ruth Greenwald, born June 15, 2004 in Samara, Russia, and adopted on August 15, 2005. She joins her big brother, Jonathan, who was born on April 26, 2002, from Tomsk, Russia, and adopted on November 1, 2002. My husband, Brian, and I have two beautiful children of Russian descent. How they joined our family is told by a story of two very different journeys.

Brian and I chose adoption after several unsuccessful years of trying for biological children. For us, it was an easy decision, knowing we wanted to be parents and that there were so many children who needed families. We spent several months researching both domestic and international adoption. In conversations with adoptive parents, social workers, and adoption agencies, we decided on international adoption. We then tackled the daunting task of selecting a country from where we wanted to adopt as well as an agency that could assist us. The process was quite overwhelming. All we can say is "thank goodness for the internet." Through piles and piles of agency brochures, agency interviews, emails from strangers who belonged to several chat groups we joined, and the guidance of one of Brian's friends who had recently adopted from Russia, we chose Russia and an agency. With that behind us we began to prepare our dossier (a large collection of adoption documents), file the necessary paperwork and fingerprint checks with our government's immigration services, and complete a home study with a licensed social worker. The home study proved to be invaluable as much of it consisted of education on parenting. After everything was completed we sent all of the documents to our agency and began the wait.

On September 10, 2002, just three and a half months after submitting our paperwork, we received word of a seemingly healthy, four and a half month old little boy in a city called Tomsk. We had his medical information and a short video of him evaluated by several doctors and just two weeks later we were 7500 miles from Kansas City. Meeting him was completely overwhelming. Russia requires two trips for adoption, so we filed our adoption petition with the court and flew home. Just three weeks later we were back in Tomsk for the court hearing and on November 7th we arrived home with our little guy. The process was magical. Jonathan was healthy, the trips to Russia, to both Moscow and Tomsk, were filled with history, breathtaking architecture, and wonderful Russian cuisine. Today, Jonathan is a vibrant, funny, and energetic three and a half year old. We just celebrated his three year "gotcha day, " an adoption term for the anniversary of the court decree (or sometimes the day the child joined the family).

We had always hoped to have two children. So in the summer of 2004 we began the journey of adopting a little girl. Many things had changed requiring all new paperwork. On November 1, 2004 we turned in our dossier and began the wait. We were told by our agency that it would be four to six months, but little did we know just five weeks later a beautiful little girl, eight months old, would spring to life via email pictures. Just five days later we were again in Tomsk, Russia. In so many ways it felt like we were going back home. The same coordinator and translator were there to assist us and a little girl was waiting to meet her hopeful parents. We again petitioned the court to adopt her and waited for the holidays to pass. Russian adoption is in turmoil and we got caught up in a wave of bureaucratic changes all designed to help encourage family building within their own country. The weeks turned into months and unfortunately, in May 2005, we received word that this little girl, now 14 months of age would not be able to be adopted. We were heartbroken, not only for us, but for her uncertain future since she was staying in the orphanage. We received information about another little girl a month later and were hopeful that she would become our daughter. But again, our path changed and the little girl was adopted by a family in Russia. I was emotionally drained and ready to stop pursuing a child at this point. However, our agency director convinced us to consider one more child. We received several email pictures. She was covered in mosquito bites and looked very scared. She was also thirteen months old meaning that she had much more exposure to institutional care than Jonathan. We moved forward with medical evaluation and traveled to see her in July. Just one month later she came home with us forever. While we were very aware of the difficulties of Russian adoption, we were not prepared for the heartache and joy of our second journey.

Today we are doing well. Leah is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. We are amazed every day at her resiliency and her ability to quickly adapt to a new language. Jonathan is mostly enjoying being a big brother, and, well, Brian and I are just grateful for our two awesome children.