Winter 2009
Happy New Year!
Dear Friends,
Alan Greenspan coined this "the age of turbulence." Most of us are dealing with turbulence in some aspect of our lives today. Job security, investments, retirement savings, infertility, adoption, the list goes on...
As we look to the future at Wide Horizons, we are focused on fulfilling our mission regardless of what may occur. We are committed to helping children in need and we cannot and will not allow today's turbulence to dissuade us.
More children are threatened as the recession deepens around the world. As one of the world's largest adoption agencies, we are fortunate to have the resources to expand our programs in response. This newsletter highlights how Wide Horizons is not only persevering through these difficult times, but how we are continuing to expand our reach.
Our newest program, Taiwan, is off to a solid start. Recently, we re-opened our Nepal program after an absence of more than a decade. Via this newsletter, we are also announcing our intention to open pilot programs in two of the world's neediest nations, Rwanda and Burundi. But we aren't stopping there. We are working to develop additional programs and to expand the reach of several existing programs. We hope to share news of our continued progress in the months ahead.
As we expand, we approach new programs with a commitment to humanitarian aid and community development. This improves the lives of many more children than we will ever reach through adoption alone. Below, you will read an account of our first Medical Mission, which saved several lives and dramatically improved the quality of life for many others. These achievements, and others such as our support to orphanages, new healthcare clinics, and construction of schools are made possible by the generosity of our families and friends.
Thank you to those who contributed to our annual appeal. In spite of the economy, we are slightly ahead of last year's appeal, but we still need to raise more funds to meet our humanitarian commitments. We would appreciate any additional help you can provide to meet these needs through the following link: www.whfc.org/WHFFC/appeal.asp.
I would also like to thank all of our waiting families for hanging in there during these "turbulent" times. We know your family will provide a loving home for a child in desperate need. Together, we will make that miracle possible.
Thank you for your faith in Wide Horizons and your continued commitment to our mission.
With gratitude,
Peter Leppanen
President and CEO
In this issue...
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
Taiwan Adoption Program
NEW PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Report From Africa
HUMANITARIAN AID
Medical Mission to Ethiopia
HORIZON KIDS
Meet Min-Je
FAMILY STORIES
The Laughing Boy Under the Table
The Best Christmas Ever
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PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT — Taiwan Adoption Program
WHFC's pilot program in Taiwan opened in early 2008, after completing extensive research into Taiwan's adoption practices and child services. In deciding to open this program, it was important for us to feel confident that Taiwan's intercountry adoption laws are in agreement with U.S. immigration law, and that our mission - to find homes for children in need of permanent loving families - is shared by those in Taiwan's social welfare institutions.
As a pilot program, the actual adoption process is established as the program unfolds, requiring flexibility from all parties involved. We are happy to report that as of January 2009, there are 12 intrepid families currently going through these uncharted waters! Three of these families have been referred a child, and the first of these is expected to travel to Taiwan in March.
Children available for adoption in Taiwan range in age from 0-15 years, and may reside in either a foster home or orphanage. We are in particular need of families interested in adopting a child over the age of 5 or children of any age with special needs. More details about the Taiwan adoption program, including eligibility criteria and fees, can be found at www.whfc.org.
WHFC Programs
China ~ Colombia ~ Ethiopia ~ India ~ Korea ~ Nepal ~ The Philippines ~ Russia ~ Taiwan ~ United States
NEW PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT — Report From Africa
In December 2008, Wide Horizons For Children (WHFC) Program Manager Debbie Mansfield traveled to a select group of African nations to meet with country representatives and visit with children in orphanages and transition homes as part of WHFC's mission to expand its child welfare services in Africa.
WHFC's mission has always focused on the needs of the child, and nowhere is the need more starkly demonstrated than in many of the African nations. Disease, civil war, genocide, famine, and abject poverty have ravaged generations of families. As a result, WHFC set a goal to work in Africa, and opened a program in Ethiopia in 2003. "When we started in Ethiopia," Debbie explains, "we wondered whether it would even be possible to work in Africa. Would the government be receptive? Would we have families open to raising African children? Now that we've worked for six years in Ethiopia we have a great model to expand to other nations in Africa."
As a result of Debbie's travel, WHFC is poised to pilot adoption programs in Rwanda and Burundi in the next couple of months. The first stage in launching new programs is piloting them with a limited number of families who are currently "paperwork-ready" - a completed homestudy and USCIS approval. WHFC is actively gathering the necessary adoption guidelines and materials, including program fees and dossier instructions. Debbie elaborates, "As we follow the experiences of these pilot families, we will have a better understanding of how these programs work, and when to officially open them to all families for consideration." Read the full report of Debbie's trip to Africa at www.whfc.org.
HUMANITARIAN AID — Medical Mission to Ethiopia
Volunteer doctors save lives of mother and baby during first ever WHFC medical mission trip
Dr. Fletcher Wilson, a WHFC adoptive dad, anticipated hardships and limited medical supplies on his first medical mission to Ethiopia. But he had no idea that he'd save the lives of a mother and baby and do it with no electricity or water access at the hospital. Hours earlier, a truck had hit the water pipe in Adwa, causing it to burst and shutting off water to the whole city. Around the same time, a mother had gone into labor. She intended to give birth at home, but after hours of hard labor, she experienced complications making it necessary for her to walk several miles to reach the only hospital in Adwa. There she gave birth with the assistance of a volunteer medical team from the U.S. When born, the baby was not breathing and there were several anxious minutes before the doctors were able to resuscitate him. The local doctor had no training in neonatal resuscitation and if not for the intervention of Dr. Wilson and his colleagues, the baby and possibly his mother would have died.
Wide Horizons For Children (WHFC) expanded its medical focus in Ethiopia to include physician-led medical trips to the Adwa and Sidama Zones of Ethiopia beginning in November 2008. During this first mission, the team, led by WHFC adoptive dad Dr. Fletcher Wilson and Dr. Stephan Coffman of New Hampshire, spent a week at the Adwa Hospital in Ethiopia's Tigray Region. While there, they completed 40 surgeries despite several days with no water or electricity and limited medical supplies. In addition to performing surgeries, future missions will provide training to local health professionals and traditional birth attendants, and also medical equipment and supply procurement.
These medical trips represent the latest of our medical initiatives in Ethiopia, which focus on improving the doctor-to-patient ratio, quality of care, and medical equipment and drugs available. For more details see www.whfc.org. This is all part of Wide Horizons commitment to dramatically improve standards of living in the communities our children come from. Your support helps us keep that commitment. Join us, and help make the difference between life and death for thousands of mothers and babies.
WHFC's Horizon Kids initiative finds parents for children who have been waiting for an adoptive family. Our waiting children are not specific to one country, instead there are waiting children in nearly every country in which we work. Many of the children have the potential for normal growth and development, and are waiting simply because they are older or part of a sibling group. Some waiting children have mild, correctible medical needs, while others have more severe needs requiring special attention.
Meet our Featured Waiting Child
Min-Je was born at 39 weeks gestation by normal delivery. He was born with Down Syndrome and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), for which he underwent a successful patch repair in November 2007. For more information about Min-Je, please contact Andrea Marshall, Horizon Kids Coordinator at 781.419.0382 or amarshall@whfc.org.
The following subsidies are available for the adoption of this child: $4,000 program fee reduction (from Holt Children's Services).
Get Started Now
• Register today to view profiles of waiting children and receive updates
• Learn about our new subsidy programs
• View our online presentation
The Laughing Boy Under the Table
My eight-year-old daughter, Ruby, tapped me on my shoulder and whispered. "Where's Adugna?" "What?" I said. I took a big whiff of incense and toasted coffee beans and sighed. I was sitting with our Adoption Group #51 in the lobby of the Horizon house. The little girls from the children's orphanage had just finished their traditional Ethiopian dance. Everyone's eyes glistened as, one by one, they said goodbye to the children who were leaving to live with their new families in America.
"Where's Adugna?" Ruby asked again. "I thought he was with you,"I said, getting up, accidentally stepping on her hand. "Ow!" she said. "Didn't you take him to shint bet (go to the bathroom)?"
My thirteen-year-old boy, Jimmy Ray, gave me a light sock in the thigh. "Mom, he's under there." He pointed to the wooden table in the center of the room with the platter of dabo (Ethiopian bread) on top.
Adugna, our newly adopted son, two-and-a half years old, was crouched underneath, bumping his head on the table and laughing at the clank of the bouncing knife and bread on the platter. Read the full story at www.whfc.org.
The Best Christmas Ever
"This will be our last Christmas without children!" was a phrase my husband and I started saying to each other in 2003. We love the holiday season and somehow each year it came to represent another milestone in our wait to become parents. Unfortunately, we ended up saying this to each other for about five Christmas seasons before our wait finally came to a welcomed end.
My husband's extended family has been blessed many times through adoption and he always desired to have both biological and adopted children. I, too, was open to adoption but really hadn't had any experience with it. After unsuccessfully trying to conceive our first child, I started to research adoption as a family-building option. It amazed me how quickly it just felt right, and how excited I became to begin the process.
During an eight month time period, we prepared ourselves. I read and read! We attended informational meetings at a couple of adoption agencies and talked with numerous people that had experience with adoption. In July of 2005, we welcomed home our niece from China, and this experience confirmed what we already knew in our hearts. God had planned for us to adopt a baby! In August of 2005, we officially submitted our application to Wide Horizons For Children and started immediately working on all of the paperwork. We decided to adopt from China for a few reasons, the main one being that our daughter would have a first cousin who was also Chinese with whom she could grow up. What a blessing that would be for both girls! Read the full story at www.whfc.org.
Published by Wide Horizons for Children, Inc. 38 Edge Hill Road, Waltham, MA 02451
© 2009 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.