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Go the Distance

Exploring International Adoption

Part Two

By Michele St. Martin

Deb Malloy*, 41, a teacher from Eden Prairie, Minn., and her husband, Bob, decided on international adoption after a relatively brief attempt at infertility treatment and years of finishing their schooling. They never seriously considered domestic adoption after a family member's heartbreaking experience of being listed with an agency for 13 years, never being chosen by a birth family and ultimately giving up.

The Malloys thought about adopting from Latin America – and then fate intervened. On a business trip, Deb shared air travel with several families and their daughters, newly adopted from China. "After I heard their stories ... I knew that's where we had to begin," she says. "They also shared with me the sense of frustration the orphanage workers showed them about so many children to care for and so few resources. That really committed me to this course for our first child." The Malloys now have two daughters: one from China and one from the Marshall Islands.

"We became aware of the Marshall Islands and that there were children there who were having a hard time being placed," Malloy says. After exploring the situation, "It just felt right, so we went ahead," she says.

Go back to Part One here.