I've been getting several e-mails a week about America World, Maura's health, adopting again, Ethiopia, etc. Well, I've been working on this post for a couple of weeks and since I've got extra time today and the dial-up is actually working well, I can hopefully answer some of your questions.
America World - Our adoption agency
If you have followed our journey for any length of time, you will know that our journey started in Ukraine but we had a horrible experience with the Ukrainian government and our in-country facilitator who worked with AWAA; our first daughter from Ethiopia died 4 days after our adoption was approved; the US Embassy in ET wouldn't acknowledge receipt of our updated fingerprints and we almost didn't get to travel; and once we got home, we found out our daughter had congestive heart failure. Your questions have had one basic theme - was our adoption agency at fault for any of this? Next, would we use them again or recommend them?
Ukraine - I would not recommend this program unless you are specifically wanting a child over the age of 6 with rather substantial special needs. I would recommend adopting a known child and not traveling blind. By this, I mean adopt a child that you have had an opportunity to view the profile before travel instead of submitting a dossier and then traveling to have an appointment to be shown available children. I have absolutely no trust in Ukraine's adoption department and the facilitator that we used through America World turned-out to be quite a shady character.
I will be honest in that we were less than impressed with the AWAA program for Ukraine - at least how it was operated in 2007 and early 2008 BUT I don't think that our problem was necessarily with AWAA but instead it was in their choice of facilitators. Now, I will also add that our Ukrainian family coordinator is no longer employed with AWAA, so I don't know anything about her replacement. My impression was that adoption agencies actually have very little influence or control over Ukrainian adoptions. The agencies basically serve as a go-between for the families and the in-county facilitator who actually walks you through the majority of the actual in-country process. It is imperative that you have a highly connected and favorable in-country facilitator. A lot of people who adopt from Ukraine do not go through an agency but contact a facilitator directly, however it worked-out better for us to have our agency because they helped us get back $$$$ that was rightfully ours. After months of bickering with our facilitator and a lot of corresponding with AWAA, they went to bat for us and we were satisfied enough that we stayed with the agency and switched programs to Ethiopia. Also, AWAA worked with us to make sure we received credit for funds previously submitted to help offset some of the costs of the Ethiopian program.
Ethiopian Program
This program is wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone. Now, I can say that knowing that there were a lot of "bumps" in the road for us even with this program.
Yahoo Chat Group: One of the biggest advantages to this program is the very active private Yahoo chat group that AWAA maintains. I have a lot of people whom I consider very dear friends because of this group. They are an amazing source of strength as we can all relate because we are going down the same path. You will find that a lot of the world just doesn't understand adoption. People will try but unless they have firsthand experience, oftentimes they just don't understand the pressures, stresses, anxiety, costs, joy, etc. This Yahoo group is like my extended family and God has used them to minister to me so many times! Jason didn't quite understand the therapeutic nature of this group but once we were in-country and he saw how easily our families blended because it was like going to a family reunion, he finally understood. If you adopt through AWAA, join this group!
Medical Conditions of Children: Our first daughter died after getting diarrhea, pneumonia, and ultimately sepsis. Could AWAA have done anything differently to keep her alive? I have pondered this question over and over again until the day I got to ET and visited her grave and the hospital where she received care. Upon arriving in ET, I discovered from independent sources that the hospital that AWAA takes the sick children to is the best pediatric hospital in Addis Ababa. It is private and very expensive - AWAA paid every bill relating to Ashure's care. I don't know if Ashure had any underlying medical condition that caused her health to quickly deteriorate, but I do know that Ashure was loved and received the best possible care a third world country can offer.
As for Rohama's medical condition, the congestive heart failure went undetected. Upon her admittance into Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, we contacted AWAA and requested a copy of her entire medical file from ET. We received the file within the hour. Testing had been done on Rohama that should have shown her heart condition but it did not. There was no evidence that any test results had been tampered with. Physicians at Vandy have stated that the TH physician and/or nurse should have been aware of her rapid heartbeat but that it is unlikely that they would have diagnosed her with congestive heart failure. Also, it is very, very expensive to test for genetic conditions, so absent a reason to test, the Vandy physicians stated that AWAA should not be expected to do so. I have asked several Vandy physicians what AWAA could have done differently and all have stated that they did what they could do in a situation like ours - they loved our baby and provided for her needs and absent reason to conduct further testing, they did everything they could have done.
Do we fault AWAA for referring a special needs child to us? Absolutely not. We have the specific child that God had planned for us and it was God who went about the placement in an unconventional manner. We are very happy with Maura Rohama and are trusting that God will continue to bless our family and provide for all our needs. He has entrusted her into our care and we gladly welcome her!
Condition of the Transitional Home: I did not tour the entire TH. We spent most of our time in the baby room and outside of the toddler playroom. From what we saw, the facility was clean and the staff were very attentive to the children - oftentimes hovering over the new parents to make sure we did things correctly. The nannies loved on our baby and were even hanging out the window to tell her goodbye on the day that we left. Maura was sick when we picked her up, so the staff made sure we had more than enough of the specialized formula, electrolyte solution, and suppositories. We are very happy with the care that Maura Rohama received at the TH.
The physicians at Vanderbilt's International Adoption Clinic have been very surprised at Maura Rohama's quick development. They were also pleased with the learning toys and activity sets that we saw at the TH as many times internationally adopted children do not have access to these things - per the docs anyway.
Adopting Again
We are frequently asked whether or not we will adopt again. The answer is, we'll see. We would love to adopt again and would start the paperwork tomorrow if we could but there are a lot of factors to consider. For one reason, while we do still have an extra bedroom and plenty of seats in our vehicles, the size of our bank account matters. Adoption is expensive, and we now have a child who visits at least one doctor every week and is on a lot of medicine. Right now, I'm not working so that's a change too. We want to make sure that we can provide a comfortable life for the children who are currently thriving in our home. So, we'll wait how God directs us - He always provides, we are confident in that. We are anxiously awaiting the answer to this question just as much as you are!
Oh, and would we consider America World again - ABSOLUTELY!
