Agatha's Story
By Fran C
In the summer of 1975 after 6 years of infertility testing we decided to adopt a child. We tried all the domestic adoption agencies and we got the same response, it would take 3-4 years to adopt a child. We were heartbroken. I called one more agency and the social worker must have heard something in my voice that made her want to help us get a baby. "Have you heard of the International Adoption Agency?" (This was the former name of Wide Horizons for Children.) She said if we would consider adopting a child of color we could have a baby in our home within 9 months.
We made an appointment for the next day and met with the director of the agency. After a few days he called and said there was a baby in El Salvador who would be ready for adoption. We said "Yes," without any hesitation. When I hung up the phone and told my husband the good news we looked at each other and said, "Where is El Salvador?"
We went to El Salvador in August of 1975 with a tiny picture in our hands of what our baby daughter looked like. We met her on the third day we were there and we brought her home three days later to a crowd of family and friends waiting for us at the airport.
Agatha Raxal (because Agatha was Spanish and Mayan my husband wanted her to have a Mayan middle name) is now 30 years old and has a baby of her own. How very fortunate we were to have been told about another alternative to domestic adoption. Our lives have been so rich and full as a result of having had the privilege of adoption. Many times people have said to me, "how lucky Agatha was to have been adopted." And we would always respond that we were the lucky ones.