A Little Support Can Go a Long Way on the Adoption Journey

Raising children and supporting them as they navigate toddlerhood or adolescence can be challenging. If you add early childhood trauma, identity or developmental issues to the mix, the challenges can present even greater challenges.

Confronted with these struggles, adoptive families may feel overwhelmed as they build a solid, loving foundation for their child while helping them acclimate at school or home.

A little support can go a long way to arriving at the solutions your child needs. Post-permanency services offer support and aim to help adoptive families who feel isolated, frustrated or overwhelmed. The goal of the Pearl S. Buck International’s Welcome House post-permanency services is to develop a supportive plan that draws on each family’s strengths. Recognizing that each family’s needs are different, the solutions presented guide adoptive families along a road map of sorts to enable them to successfully navigate life’s challenges based on their individual strengths and individual goals.  

The individualized plan may include resources for parenting a child with physical, emotional or other special needs, as well as offer support and advocacy for educational issues or learning disabilities.

Funded through the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN), the program can be accessed by calling 1-800-585-7926 and requesting a referral to Pearl S. Buck International’s Welcome House program. 

All adopted children residing in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are eligible for services as well as families with permanent legal custody or families caring for their relative’s children (kinship placement).

Multicultural Families are Born with Welcome House Adoptions from Kazakhstan and Costa Rica

Last month, Pearl S. Buck International’s Welcome House Adoption Program received full accreditation from the central adoption authority in Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Education and Sciences, to begin facilitating adoptions of children by US families. As an accredited program, we are one of 12 United States adoption service providers currently accredited by the Ministry of Education and Sciences. In May 2012, Kazakhstan officially began accrediting US adoption service providers as its last step toward becoming a Hague Convention country. Welcome House previously facilitated adoptions from Kazakhstan when it was a non-Hague country. We have an outstanding in-country coordinator who will facilitate adoptions for Welcome House families. 

Kazakhstan is an interesting multicultural region of the world. There are 142 distinct ethnic groups in Kazakhstan, and the children available for adoption are from various backgrounds: Asian, Caucasian, Eurasian. The official language spoken in Kazakhstan is Kazakh and Russian is considered the second official language. The country recognizes Independence Day on December 16 as a national holiday. Its economics are sustained by the industries of oil, coal, iron ore, iron and steel as well as tractors and other agricultural machinery, to name a few. Areas of specialty in agriculture include grain, predominantly spring wheat, cotton and livestock. 

In August 2012, the Kazakhstan government suspended adoptive placements with United States families. While there have been some recent promising meetings between adoption service providers, Ministry of Education and Sciences officials and US Department of State, we do not yet know when the suspension will be lifted. The US State Department has confirmed that all accredited adoption service providers may proceed with accepting applications and submitting home studies to US CIS for Kazakhstan. Children referred for adoption are expected to range in age between 12 months and 15 years of age. Families requesting a child less than two years of age may wait a bit longer for the referral. There are more children over the age of three currently available for adoption. 

The Welcome House adoption program is also matching children from Costa Rica with families in the United States. The Central American country of Costa Rica borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south-southeast. Its year round tropical climate lends itself to a rich diversity of plants, birds and animals. Christianity is the predominant religion practiced in Costa Rica, while Roman Catholicism is the official state religion according to its 1949 Constitution. The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Costa Rican Spanish. It is said that Costa Rica enjoys one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America. “Pura Vida” is a common phrase spoken to reflect their way of life which means “pure life” or “good life.” 

Welcome House currently has families matched with children and welcomes inquiries about adopting a child from Costa Rica. 

Families interested in our Costa Rica adoption program may contact Bethany Horstman at bhorstman@pearlsbuck.org or Amy Durie at adurie@pearlsbuck.org for our Kazakhstan adoption program. Both staff members may be reached via phone at (215) 249-0100. Details about our adoption programs are also shared during our adoption information meetings. A full schedule of adoption information meetings can be found at www.pearlsbuck.org/adoptioninformation. Like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pearlsbuckinternational) to be kept up to date on all our news as we build a global community through child adoption, child sponsorship and community programs at our national historic landmark site in Bucks County, the Pearl S. Buck House.

Welcome!

Welcome to the premier edition of the Welcome House Adoptive Families Blog. 

For more than 60 years, Welcome House has been building families through child adoption. More than 7,000 children have been matched with forever families. However, our success does not equate to a number. The heart of the matter is that the work that we have done for over six decades has impacted the hearts of many- both within families and within the communities in which our adoptive families reside.  Our history as a Bucks County-based child adoption program is rich with wonderful stories of multicultural appreciation and love exhibited through adoption.

Last month during National Adoption Month we asked our Facebook fans and Welcome House families to share their adoption stories with us. The winning entry is from a Korean adoptee who wrote about the wonderful opportunity adoption afforded her and her parents.

Here is an excerpt from her entry:

My Korean mother put me up for adoption because she was a young, poor, unwed mother of a mixed child. I had a few problems in Korea because I was half-American. My Korean mother put me up for adoption so that I may have an opportunity for a brighter future. My American family provided me with that opportunity. I would not be where I am today without my mother’s unselfish act and my American family’s unselfish hearts. 

My parents have opened my eyes and my mind to a whole new world. My parents have introduced me to theater, orchestra, travel and art. Had I lived in Korea, I would not have had these opportunities. They have taught me the value of family. They taught me not to “judge a book by its cover” and how to keep an open mind. I am a pretty well rounded individual due to their teachings. 

My parents are my guardian angels. They have given me a real chance at life. My Korean mother’s unselfish act and my American family’s unselfish hearts have given me a life I couldn’t have ever imagined. I may not have been born under my American family’s hearts, but I was born in it.