LilMtnCbn
01-11-2004, 06:31 AM
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=24FBB290-E278-44D4-BBAB1DBDDB46EAFE
American Couples Increasingly Turn to Africa for Adoption
Maura Farrelly
New York
10 Jan 2004, 22:04 UTC
For many years, Americans wishing to adopt children have often looked abroad,
primarily to Asia and Central Europe, where poverty, disease and sometimes
governmental policies have resulted in hundreds of thousands of parentless
children. But recently, another continent has become a popular place for
American couples to look. Africa has seen a steady increase in the number of
foreign adoptions over the last couple of years, and if predictions for 2004
pan out, Ethiopia could end up being one of the top-ten countries from which
Americans adopt.
"This'll be where the babies start. We'll have them all in one room while
they're young, and then we have separate rooms for when they get older,"
explains Michael Stephenson. It's around 9 p.m. in West Harrison, New York, an
exclusive suburb of New York City, and Michael Stephenson is giving me a tour
of his large and stately home. He and his wife, Gina, will be traveling to
Ethiopia in four days. They're going to pick up their children, who are just
ten months old.
"This is the 'jack and jill' bath[shared bathroom]," he said. "We'll probably
get some help, and they'll probably stay in the other bedroom, and then maybe
later, we'll put two of the boys in one room and the girl in the other."
That's right. Michael and Gina Stephenson are adopting triplets. Actually, the
children are quadruplets. Their biological mother died shortly after giving
birth to a fourth child, who did not survive. It's not an uncommon story in
Ethiopia, where infant and maternal mortality rates are among the world's
highest. Gina Stephenson says that's part of the reason she and her husband
looked to Africa when they made the decision to adopt.
"Michael, for I guess eight years, had sponsored a child through the Christian
Children's Fund," she said. "A boy in Kenya who's around fourteen now, and we
were very excited to get his letters, and he's very grateful for the support.
So it was logical when we wanted to look to do more that it fit both needs.
Humanitarian, but also to help us expand our family."
Last year, Americans adopted 190 children from Ethiopia. This year, it's
predicted that between 400 and 500 Ethiopian children will find homes in the
United States. Right now, international adoptions are freely permitted in just
three African countries - Ethiopia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Kenya recently
loosened its adoption laws, making foreign adoptions possible, but prospective
parents are required to spend three months living with the children in Kenya
before an adoption can be approved, and so many American couples look elsewhere
on the continent.
Cheryl Carter-Shotts, founder of the non-profit group, Americans for African
Adoptions, says organizations like hers have pushed authorities to legalize
foreign adoptions, and as a result, the number of American adoptions from
African countries has been steadily growing.
"People who adopt from Africa seem to fall into a couple of different
categories," she said. "If they have no children, if they're a young couple,
they usually cannot have children, and they're worried about birth families
coming back in the United States. The other kind of individual who adopts is
usually a much older couple, who already have children, but have decided there
are already so many children in the world that they will look for parts of the
world where it's neediest, which is in our estimation Africa."
Ms. Carter-Shotts says older couples tend to adopt the older children, or the
children who are ill or handicapped. The overwhelming majority of Americans who
adopt from Africa are white, as are the majority of Americans who adopt in
general. That's because white couples tend to be better off financially. But
that's not the case with Michael and Gina Stephenson, both of whom have
high-paying jobs, and both of whom are African-American. Gina Stephenson says
she and her husband have been reading a lot about the history and culture of
Ethiopia, because they want their children to know where they came from. She
says it's a privilege they will have that she and her husband, as the
descendants of slaves, did not.
"As African-Americans," she said, "we know that our ancestors came from Africa,
but we don't know exactly where, and I feel very cut off from that part of our
history, our ancestry, whereas other immigrant groups know exactly where their
families came from."
And so, too, will Palos, Petros, and Nia Michelle Stephenson, who just
celebrated their first Christmas as Ethiopian-Americans.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
American Couples Increasingly Turn to Africa for Adoption
Maura Farrelly
New York
10 Jan 2004, 22:04 UTC
For many years, Americans wishing to adopt children have often looked abroad,
primarily to Asia and Central Europe, where poverty, disease and sometimes
governmental policies have resulted in hundreds of thousands of parentless
children. But recently, another continent has become a popular place for
American couples to look. Africa has seen a steady increase in the number of
foreign adoptions over the last couple of years, and if predictions for 2004
pan out, Ethiopia could end up being one of the top-ten countries from which
Americans adopt.
"This'll be where the babies start. We'll have them all in one room while
they're young, and then we have separate rooms for when they get older,"
explains Michael Stephenson. It's around 9 p.m. in West Harrison, New York, an
exclusive suburb of New York City, and Michael Stephenson is giving me a tour
of his large and stately home. He and his wife, Gina, will be traveling to
Ethiopia in four days. They're going to pick up their children, who are just
ten months old.
"This is the 'jack and jill' bath[shared bathroom]," he said. "We'll probably
get some help, and they'll probably stay in the other bedroom, and then maybe
later, we'll put two of the boys in one room and the girl in the other."
That's right. Michael and Gina Stephenson are adopting triplets. Actually, the
children are quadruplets. Their biological mother died shortly after giving
birth to a fourth child, who did not survive. It's not an uncommon story in
Ethiopia, where infant and maternal mortality rates are among the world's
highest. Gina Stephenson says that's part of the reason she and her husband
looked to Africa when they made the decision to adopt.
"Michael, for I guess eight years, had sponsored a child through the Christian
Children's Fund," she said. "A boy in Kenya who's around fourteen now, and we
were very excited to get his letters, and he's very grateful for the support.
So it was logical when we wanted to look to do more that it fit both needs.
Humanitarian, but also to help us expand our family."
Last year, Americans adopted 190 children from Ethiopia. This year, it's
predicted that between 400 and 500 Ethiopian children will find homes in the
United States. Right now, international adoptions are freely permitted in just
three African countries - Ethiopia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Kenya recently
loosened its adoption laws, making foreign adoptions possible, but prospective
parents are required to spend three months living with the children in Kenya
before an adoption can be approved, and so many American couples look elsewhere
on the continent.
Cheryl Carter-Shotts, founder of the non-profit group, Americans for African
Adoptions, says organizations like hers have pushed authorities to legalize
foreign adoptions, and as a result, the number of American adoptions from
African countries has been steadily growing.
"People who adopt from Africa seem to fall into a couple of different
categories," she said. "If they have no children, if they're a young couple,
they usually cannot have children, and they're worried about birth families
coming back in the United States. The other kind of individual who adopts is
usually a much older couple, who already have children, but have decided there
are already so many children in the world that they will look for parts of the
world where it's neediest, which is in our estimation Africa."
Ms. Carter-Shotts says older couples tend to adopt the older children, or the
children who are ill or handicapped. The overwhelming majority of Americans who
adopt from Africa are white, as are the majority of Americans who adopt in
general. That's because white couples tend to be better off financially. But
that's not the case with Michael and Gina Stephenson, both of whom have
high-paying jobs, and both of whom are African-American. Gina Stephenson says
she and her husband have been reading a lot about the history and culture of
Ethiopia, because they want their children to know where they came from. She
says it's a privilege they will have that she and her husband, as the
descendants of slaves, did not.
"As African-Americans," she said, "we know that our ancestors came from Africa,
but we don't know exactly where, and I feel very cut off from that part of our
history, our ancestry, whereas other immigrant groups know exactly where their
families came from."
And so, too, will Palos, Petros, and Nia Michelle Stephenson, who just
celebrated their first Christmas as Ethiopian-Americans.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
