The "A" Word

With Dzintars arriving in less than a week I thought it was time to cover a very important topic...the "A" word!!

What might the "A" word be you ask???

ADOPTION!! 

New Horizons for Children is NOT an adoption agency. They are a hosting program only and any mention of the word adoption jeopardizes their program. And while it is true that 65% of the children who are hosted this summer will go on to be adopted by families in the United States it is not beneficial to the children for adoption to be discussed in their presence. The ONLY thing they have been promised is a summer in America, they are essentially going on a 5 week vacation to another country, that is it! They all know they will be returning to their own countries once the 5 weeks are up! The only thing worse than a child living in an orphanage, is having hopes raised that their life is going to change, they will be adopted, and then they are not. More often than not, children who are told they are being adopted, or being led to believe this, are the same ones WHO ARE NOT EVER ADOPTED.

We may NOT talk to Dzintars about any aspect of adoption; or mention the possibility, the concept, the thought process or any form of the "A" word in his presence and we ask that you respect this rule as well. We are not planning on adopting Dzintars, but we have agreed to be his advocates and we hope and pray that a family would step forward and adopt him!

You may THINK the kids do not understand any English but they may have actually pick up on
various parts of conversations. We've been asked to be super proactive in letting others know this rule before we run into a problem (hence this blog post).

In the past, slip ups have occurred in the following ways and have really caused heartache:

• In the concept of discussing a pet's "adoption"...a child heard the word, and didn't realize it was in relation to a pet, but thought it was for him! It wasn't. 
• When attending a church service, the pastor was so excited to welcome the hosted children present, he asked for church members to pray that each child would get adopted. 
• When a mom was driving down the road with music playing, she thought her hosted child couldn't understand, so she called someone and discussed adoption of the child. The child heard and soon spread the "news" to others at group events that they were all being adopted. 
• In discussing the joy of personally being an "adopted" child, a parent was trying to share a personal experience, but the child misunderstood and thought it was about him/her. 

Please help us protect Dzintars from disappointment. We know he really wants a family as he's told his orphanage director as much, but part of our job as his host family is to protect him from heartbreak. 

If you or someone you know is interested in possibly adopting Dzintars (or any other child that is part of the New Horizons hosting program) they can contact New Horizons directly at www.newhorizonsforchildren.org or at the very least shoot me an email that I can read when he is not around!

We appreciate your help in this matter! Feel free to share our blog link with others you know who may be interested in Dzintars or the New Horizons hosting program!