Why Adoption?       After trying to get pregnant for 3 years, and going through tests and surgery, we found out our odds at this time for getting pregnant were pretty slim. We have decided to pursue Haley’s dream of adopting. Haley has had a heart for adoption since she was a little girl and knew she wanted to adopt someday. We had talked about adoption early on in marriage before knowing we had any infertility issues and knew it could be an option for us in the future, as well as having biological children. So after we hit some walls with the infertility, and had our diagnosis, we didnt have to many options with moving forward with infertility treatments. We felt our hearts really being moved towards adoption and knew it was Gods timing. Haley will tell you that she believes God put adoption so strong on her heart for such a long time, because he knew that would be his plan for our lives together.

Why International?      Adoption in the US is set up to favor biological parents’ rights. Although this is usually a good thing, for domestic adoption this can result in loss and adoptions that don’t happen. Biological parents can change their mind at any time around the birth, usually there is a waiting period after the birth before their consent is binding, and the biological parents can dispute the adoption within a certain amount of time after they have given their consent. Many domestic adoptions proceeed with no issues, however, on occassion these laws can cause very heartbreaking situations where you bring a baby home and then are forced to give it back. This is something we don’t feel emotionally prepared to deal with. Adoptions outside the foster care system (many infant adoptions are private because it allows the birth parent(s) to choose the adoptive parents which is favored by many birth mothers) are also quite a bit more expensive than many international options. While realizing that there are many children in this country that are in need of good parents and homes, we feel international adoption is the right choice for us at this time.

Why Colombia?     Haley has always had a passion for South America. We have also been on missions trips to Mexico & Guatemala. We love the culture and the hearts of the latin people. After finding out that Guatemala had closed it doors, Colombia quickly became the next best option. Colombia has an excellent program that is long-running and well-established. Colombia takes pride in their adoption system and wants to adopt out their best children to have a good reputation. Colombia is a Hague nation and has a long history of completely reviewing adoptions. (The Hague treaty is something some countries have signed that puts safe-guards in place to keep adoption programs strong and make sure they are matching families with children appropriately.) Colombia has an excellent child welfare department that mostly uses foster care rather than orphanages. They also are one of the cheaper countries to adopt from and don’t increase their administrative fees for additional children.

When will you bring your kids home?    (Will update once we have more info on new age request)

Why do we want to adopt siblings?      When talking about our adoption, people usually think we will be getting an infant. Thats not the case. Brian and I have requested a sibling group of 2 children ages 0-6. Colombia is big in adopting sibling groups, they do not want to break up the children if they dont have to. Brian and I want to build our family and bringing home 2 siblings right away is ideal.  The kids will have each other and can go through the change and adjustment together as well.