Truly speaking, I don’t know even where to start from. This is my first blog ever (and believe me I’m not that young) and it seems that there’s so much to say.

In December 2015, our family has extended: we brought our adopted son from China home. On this very day, a new page of our family life started. This was an end of one journey and the beginning of something really new for us all, a step to the unknown.

I don’t know if our son Peng will remember that day when he was taken from an orphanage and took a long and tiring flight to his new home. I’m sure he will remember despite he was just 3 years old at that time. It was an extremely emotional day even for me and wife who already have two children. You know, adoption is something very specific. This process is even more gentle than giving birth to your own child: you feel even more responsibility. Despite being so young, this child has already experienced such losses and stresses in his life that I haven’t even imagined in my 53.

It wasn’t really my intention to start this blog. When we were waiting for referral and matching with a child, a lot of our friends and friends of our friends started to put us questions regarding adoption process. Some people wanted to adopt but were hesitant because of the lack of TRUE information from people who have recently adopted or are in the program.

So my wife and I decided to start this blog in order to compile all the knowledge and experience we have accumulated during our two year adoption journey and to share this enormous stock of our experience with those who really need it.

Unfortunately, when one starts the topic of international adoption, a lot of stereotypes and vagrancy arise. This is quite understandable. Adoption is not a process one is involved in each day. Even if someone is ready to start the process, they may get frightened with all those tons of papers that has to be collected, for checkups and finally for all those terrific things that are usually told about children available for international adoption.

I am here to ruin stereotypes.

Today I’m going to explain a little bit about procedural issues and how it really looks like.

Ok, my wife and I are both slightly over 50 having our two biological children who are already grown ups and live separately. Having been left alone in our big house, we have realized that something’s missing and that we still have much love to give and care to provide to the one who really needs it. At that time, thinking about adoption for us was like for a bear to think of online shopping– we simply had no idea of what it is and what we shall do. Learning the issue on the web made no result. It just made my head explode with all that mess of information. A real chaos! The only thing we knew for sure is that we were going to go internationally. You may ask why? ok, let me explain. We are a family of mixed nationality. My wife is of Colombian origin and I am American with a mixture of Irish and Chinese roots. A great mixture, isn’t it?

International adoption has a number of pluses. The main thing for us (but the perhaps the worst thing for our future child) is that all adoption are final. No one of his family members will ever come to seek him or to lay a claim on him. Is it good or bad for you – decide.

The other thing is a wait period. Unlike domestic adoption which is a real roller coaster, wait periods in international adoptions are quite predictable. It depends on the age and health condition of an adopted child. If we talk about domestic adoption, the truth and the law will always be on birth parents’ side. What does it mean? This means that birth mother may change her decision to give her child for adoption any time she wishes. That is why prospective adopters call it emotional roller coaster. Do you wish to take a ride?

International adoption is the best option for those who are eager to adopt a toddler or elder child. It’s almost impossible to adopt a newborn or a baby. For me and my wife Liz, our perfect age was 3+. We didn’t feel that young to wake up in the middle of the night and change nappies. We used to go through this all already… twice. Moreover, we were not going to raise this child with no revealing of the secret of adoption, so this was ok for us.

And the last but not the least, international adoption provides you with more certainty in successful adoption. Once your referral is approved and you were matched with a child, you are almost guaranteed to adopt a particular child.

So, this is my personal overview of international adoption basics. Don’t judge me too strictly – this is the first time I’m writing a blog (however, not the first time I’m writing in general – smile).