At a recent play group, I met a woman who had adopted her second child from Russia. She said it was a long and costly process but that she didn’t want to risk the possibility of the birth parents taking the child back. I’ve skimmed the Florida Statutes to try and find details in reference to the birth parents rights, but think its up to a judge. Where as in Russia the birth parents immediately terminate their rights at birth, case closed.
It got me thinking that quite a few adopting parents may look outside of the States for the same reason. Im on a mission to research this further and at the very least contact my representative and voice my concerns. You can find your elected official here and your nine digit zip code here. Looking at the Florida Department of Children and Families kid search website, I found 388 boys and 232 girls and 50 sibling groups that need to be adopted. I find myself browsing these children from time to time, the way I used to browse the local animal shelters website considering animals that needed a home. I realize that Im not in a position to adopt, although I hope to be someday. That doesn’t mean that I cant get involved.
My play group is getting involved in the pajama program. The pajama program provides new warm pajamas and new books to children in need. We were actually able to locate a local children’s home and identify the gender and age of children in need of new pajamas and a book. These are children that may not know the comfort of being tucked in by Mom or Dad after a bed time story. These children for some reason or another have been abandoned and finding this small way to connect and give feels pretty good. Im hoping to connect with more children’s homes and find a way to give back. The thought occurred that lots of people probably have these thoughts near the holidays and the challenge will be to keep up with it through the year.
