A choice

Whoever thought John would be a more prolific writer than I am? Man, I need to do some catching up here.

I think that we have decided on a country. After a lot of thinking and praying and talking, we both feel strongly that Ethiopia is the right place for us to pursue adoption. There are a number of reasons for that. On a very practical level, the cost is significantly lower than Colombia. While we will get some assistance from my place of employment, and we hope to still be able to take advantage of the tax credit, we are still looking at a major out-of-pocket expense. We will have more resources to care for a new child if we are able to cut our costs on the actual adoption.

We also had to consider other practialities, such as the amount of time we as adoptive parents would need to spend in country. Colombia requires a stay of at least 7 weeks after the adoption is finalized, in order to help the child become familiar with his/her new parents while still in a familiar setting. I agree that there are a lot of reasons why that's a good idea, but it would be a challenge for our family in a number of ways.

Finally, the age restrictions for adoptive parents are different for Ethiopia. To adopt a younger child (age 3 or under) from Colombia, the older adoptive parent must be younger than 38. For Ethiopia, the parents must be younger than 45. From what we understand, there is also a greater potential for getting a younger child (i.e., 18 months old or younger) from Ethiopia. In our minds, the transition would likely be easier for a younger child. I'm sure we'll learn more about that as we continue this journey.

So, Ethiopia it is. I feel confident in that decision, but I'm still becoming used to the idea of going with a non-Latin American country. When I've thought about adopting in the past, it's always involved a child from Latin America. I did my graduate work in Latin American history, and have always felt a strong sense of connection with the region. (It must run in the family; my grandparents were very involved in missions work in Mexico and numerous other family members have strong Latin American connections.) Unfortunately, most Latin American countries are not participating in international adoptions right now, largely because of issues of corruption in the past. I do believe that we're making the right decision here, though. And who knows, in a few years maybe we'll consider adding another child and Latin America will be a better option.