This is one of Dave's and my least favorite questions that people ask us when we tell them we are adopting from the Philippines. I'll rephrase that. It's when people who have adopted ask us that question in a challenging manner, making us feel as though we need to justify why we are adopting from the Philippines that we dislike that question. I feel like I have to say how much we love that the Philippine culture is all about family and so are we, that we have loved everything we've learned about Philippine culture. Or that we had family and friends who have served over there in mission work or training to be community developers. While those are true, the only answer I need to give is, "Because that's where our babies are".
I figured I would write a post though explaining why I am so grateful that we are adopting from the Philippines. These are reasons that apply to Dave and I only. I admire the people who can adopt from countries like Russia, b/c you will see with my reasons below that I don't think I could do it. So without further ado, the reasons we are grateful we are adopting from the Philippines:
-We only have to travel there once to do the government-required paperwork and pick up the child. I think that I would completely breakdown if I had to go for one (or more) visit(s), and then leave the child there until the next trip. I was just reading a blog about a family in Haiti who is struggling with coming home from their first visit with their adopted children living in an orphanage there. My heart hurts for this mother who has already held her children, then had to leave them while the governments finish up all the necessary paperwork for their children to finally be home with them. Every time I read one of these blogs, I wonder how these strong women are able to do it. I don't think I could do it.
-We only need to stay in the Philippines for about 1 week to get everything done. Although we will probably want to stay there a lot longer, it's nice knowing that we don't have to stay there long before coming home to start our new lives together!
-We don't have to carry any cash with us, or bribe any officials to get things done the right way. In fact all of our money is handled for us through our agency, and all we have to worry about is spending money/hotel/travel money. I hear stories about people having to carry thousands of dollars with them on their adoption trips b/c the officials will only accept cash, and bribes. That would scare the bejeesums out of me.
-The Philippine government agency that handles the adoptions (ICAB) takes the referral process very seriously. They want to ensure that they are choosing the right family for each child. I feel that they have a high success rate in adoptions because of this. This is also one of the reasons that we haven't tried finding and adopting a waiting child. We have full faith that ICAB (and God) has the right child/ren in mind for us, and we can't wait to meet them!!
-The Philippines is WARM, hot even!! I love warm weather, and am really praying that our trip falls in February, March or April. Why not December or January you may ask? Well it's so that we can get a nice reprieve from that time in Minnesota when it's insanely cold, and you don't even have Christmas or the Super Bowl to look forward to.
-We hear that the people in the Philippines are more than nice. Everyone is accommodating and kind. I can't wait to meet people over there and just smile and smile (I like to smile).
-The people in the Philippines are BEAUTIFUL. Ramiele from Am.erican Idol is from the Philippines, and what a gorgeous girl she is, right? I can't wait to gaze into the beautiful brown eyes of my babies, brush their smooth black hair, and admire how beautifully different their skin is next to mine.
-The food is AWESOME. And I know we haven't even experienced the best of what we'll get to eat over there. I'm excited for real Chicken Adobo, Adobo Peanuts, Pancit, REAL fresh mangoes, and other new things that I can't try over here. When Dave and I travel our rule is that we can't eat anywhere that we could go to when we are back home. It should be lots of fun in the Philippines!!
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2 comments:
People have asked us the same question, why the Philippines? I think you answers are great, we've used alot of them ourselves.
I have not had to field this question b/c I am of Filipino descent and people just assume that is why; but, in fact, deciding to adopt from the Philippines was a longer journey. That the 'cultural' aspect would be more organic was important, but there were other considerations for us, too. The more we looked at internat'l adoption, the more it became clear that the potential for systemic abuse is high. For better or for worse, one of the ways to ensure that the rights of all parties are looked out for--to the extent possible-- is by having a strong layer of regulation and oversight in the process. We looked for programs that complied with and implemented the Hague Treaty. There were several things about Philippine adoptions that did not excite me (extended wait times, etc) but the really good points about it far outweighed the other side. I think this may inspire me to write a post about this.
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