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Culture Combo
Adopting a Baby of Different Nationality
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
A baby is a precious gift to any family. However, there are many couples who, for one reason or another, cannot conceive a child on their own, even after months, years or decades of trying. These couples often build their families through the adoption process. Some couples choose to adopt a baby from another country, another culture or another race. While this process or choice may not be the choice for every couple, it is the only choice for some.
Intercountry adoption is one option for couples who are looking to build or add to their family. While able to adopt a child from the United States, many couples choose to adopt from overseas for a number of reasons.
"Families choose intercountry adoption for a variety of reasons," says Susan Freivalds, previous executive director of Adoptive Families of America. "Perhaps the family does not meet agency guidelines for domestic adoption but qualifies for intercountry adoption. Sometimes families wish to adopt from the country of the family's ethnic origin, or they are acquainted with others who have successfully adopted overseas. Typically, the waiting time and sometimes the total costs for an intercountry adoption are more predictable than for the adoption of a child born in the United States. Often families who pursue an intercountry adoption speak of their desire to parent a child who really needs a family as much as the family needs the child."
"We wanted to adopt a young, healthy child and didn't want to 'compete' with other parents to be picked in a domestic adoption," says Michele St. Martin of Minneapolis, Minn., the mother of a 22-month-old daughter adopted from China. "Why compete for a white baby when there are other children who need families too? I checked into various adoption programs, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted to adopt a baby girl from China. Both my husband and I love Chinese art and culture, and the more we learned about China and their adoption process, the more we were drawn to it. We began to fall in love with the idea of being a Chinese-American family, and we were eager to meet the daughter that we knew was waiting for us somewhere in China!"