Adoption for all

By Melissa Russell and Nicole Nemeth


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TAMPA, Fla. – In 1973 under a harvest moon, 24-year-old Nancy Snyder repeated to herself: “I did not give birth to this baby, but she belongs to me.” Snyder held a baby of Asian descent close to her heart as the child wrapped its tiny arms around her neck. Moments later Snyder woke up to the realization that it was just a dream. She could not have children.

However, seven years later the dream came true.

Snyder received a referral in December of 1979, from Holt International Children’s Services - an adoption agency - telling her that a child was available for her. The following April, a case worker met Snyder and her husband at the airport with Sara Campion, a 9-month-old child from Korea. When Snyder held Sara for the first time, the child fell asleep in her arms.

According to The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, in 2001 there were 1.5 million domestic and internationally adopted children in the United States. Domestic adoptions include foster care adoption and private adoption. International adoptions have gained in popularity, having more than doubled in the past 11 years with over half of internationally adopted children being female. Nearly 90 percent of the children adopted internationally are under the age of 5, and according to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau, nearly half of foreign-born adopted children come from Asia.

On Oct. 30, 2009, a proclamation was sent from the Office of the Press Secretary by President Barack Obama stating that he wanted “to support and honor adoptive families.” Thus November became National Adoption Month.
Adoptions come in all shapes and sizes. According to a study published in the Adoption Quarterly, there are different motivations for parents to adopt. The study “Ready to Adopt: Characteristics and Expectations of Pre-adoptive Families,” stated reasons that ranged from: just wanting to adopt, concerns about birth parent issues associated with domestic adoptions (supporting reasons to adopt internationally), humanitarian reasons and infertility reasons.

And adoption is not just for the traditional family. Same-sex couples now have the opportunity to adopt children as well. For Martin Gill, Nov. 25, 2008, will always be special. For 33 years Florida has banned same-sex adoptions under FLA. STAT. § 63.042(3). But on this day, the juvenile court gave Gill and his partner permission to adopt their two foster children, thus repealing the ban. Attorney General Bill McCollum threatened to appeal the court’s decision. However, on Oct. 22, 2010, McCollum decided to leave the repealed ban alone, opening the door for same-sex couples to adopt in Florida.

Snyder’s adopted daughter, Sara Campion, is now 31 and said adoption is definitely in her future. She explains her reasons to adopt seem natural.

“It’s like how it’s natural for people to want to have their own natural children, I guess because I have been adopted it’s the thing I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “There are too many orphans and there’s really no reason for children to be orphans. I’d like to have my own little united nations.”

Many parents pursue international adoptions because of misconceptions that domestic adoptions are not as safe. Loryn Smith, director of Woven Basket Adoption Agency, said that this is not always true. In her experience, Smith said international children who are adopted have no medical history and tend to have more severe health and mental issues. Because of the lack of history, parents do not know anything about the child’s wellness.

Campion said in her case, she is not even sure of her actual birth date. Her family celebrates her birthday on July 9, 1979. As a premature baby, she was malnourished and left at a police station, so they used this date to estimate her date of birth. She does not have any records of her birth mom, only of her foster family in Korea. She said the fear of rejection has plagued her over the years and kept her from getting close to people. Growing up in an all-white community was lonely.

“I felt like the only Asian on the planet,” she said.

Smith said attachment issues are common in adopted children since their attachment bond with their birth mother had been severed. But she believes that every child responds differently to this and while some may have more severe issues like Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), many children adjust very well.

The Mayo Clinic describes RAD as a severe condition where children are unable to respond to social interactions because they did not form healthy attachments with their caregivers. While RAD is a lifelong condition, treatment can help the child and family cope with it.

Smith said severe conditions are more common in international children who have been profoundly traumatized and left in institutions with little or no touch. She said children from certain countries have a profound rate of fetal alcohol syndrome that may not show up until adolescence, leaving parents unprepared in how to handle it.

But this is not just the case for international adoptions. “Children issued through the state (foster care) have all been victims of abuse or neglect, and so their issues are very different even if they’re very young,” Smith said.

This is different from the case of a domestic newborn whose mother had good prenatal care, was not exposed to domestic violence and decided to find a family for her baby, Smith said.

“Even in utero exposure to domestic violence alters brain development,” she said. RAD results from the level of trauma experienced. Because of this, she said it takes a different level of parenting.

While Woven Basket requires their parents to go through preadoptive training, most private agencies do not require it. Parents go into it “just like they would a birth child, and so when that child hits adolescence they’re seeing some attachment issues,” Smith said. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) does require families to take a ten-week preparation course.

Because of the importance of parental education, Woven Basket offers post-placement support. Hillsborough county families can also find assistance at the Sylvia Thomas Center in Brandon, which offers training for parents, support group meetings and other resources. DCF  has resources for families as well.

Some adoptive parents have said dealing with medical issues for their state-adopted children is one of the more frustrating factors. Often state-adopted children are required to use Medicaid, which covers everything they need. While this is helpful, many parents have expressed concern about how poorly they were treated at some of the medical facilities.

Sabrina Christie, an adoptive parent and school counselor at Lee Elementary, is required to use Medicaid. She said she has been treated as “less than human” at some offices but discovered that when she educated herself on what her child needed and stood up for those needs, she was treated better. She encourages other foster care parents to do the same.

“Treat people the way you want to be treated,” Christie said. “Sometimes you just got to be that advocate for the child.”


Sara Campion slideshow




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