A big deal for the Marshes

 

 

Taking a quick break from summer adventure posts to offer some perspective on what seems like ancient history:  our family's adoption experience.  The Russian adoption story has reached the news again with highly political underpinnings.

 

We've watched over the last five plus years as international adoption numbers have shrunk significantly.  It is sad to think of all the children in other countries desperate for families, with prospective parents unable to bring them home.

 

 

It is pretty clear that we lucked out bigtime when you consider our timing.  You can see from the chart that we started the process of bringing the CNMs home just as the decline in Russian adoptions to the US began.  And they sure did plummet from there.  We had heard many success stories in the years leading up to our adoption experience, and many more unsuccessful ones after we were done.

Adoption is a complicated process that seems to be inextricably linked to societal and political issues.  It is difficult to legally create a family through adoption, and even harder when two different countries have to agree on legal documentation.  We hold out hope that Russian orphans will be given opportunities to grow up with parents, somehow, some way.