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Adoption and Families

This report is given by the Campbell-O'Connell family who completed their adoption last month.





Life is grand! We are thrilled, ecstatic, overjoyed – and any other adjective you can find in your thesaurus. As first time parents, our home overnight has been turned upside down, and we could not be happier. As volunteers in rehabilitation medicine, we have been to Haiti many times over the years, but our last trip was the most special; Samuel (4) and Vénel (3) came home with us on August 19, the first children adopted to Canada from ACHF in Haiti.

The Canadian system is slightly different from the American one, with all documents reviewed and approved first provincially and then federally by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, prior to being sent to Haiti. Once a child receives a passport, the wait time for a Visa from the Canadian Embassy in Haiti is relatively short. Once through customs at the airport in Canada, the children become landed immigrants, and we now apply for citizenship.

Both boys did great on the airplane, in line waiting for re-ticketing when we missed our connection in Montreal, at the airport hotel and on a “road-trip” to Prince Edward Island. They are active, engaging, entertaining, and healthy. Vénel screamed when first experiencing an elevator and our big dogs, especially our Bernese Mountain dog – Big Moe. He now cuddles right in to Moe. Elevators - well - we'll work on that. Samuel got right down to business and is fully moved in – he knows where all his things are, how to work our digital camera and the DVD player. We already have a Mr. Wiggles movie memorized, as both of them love the dancing and songs. They love water – ocean, lake, river, hottub, and bathtub. This makes life easier! Photos are really important to them – especially Samuel. They identify themselves, us, and their friends from the Creche in pictures we have around the house. We are making them photo albums to keep all their pictures in.

We are learning as we go – the biggest challenge so far is the loads of laundry that seem endless, and a bit of struggle with language when they use creole words we don't recognize. Both are great though at showing us what they mean (which is usually something they saw in the fridge that they'd like to try). We keep Wally Turnball's "Creole made Easy" close by at all times. It helped us figure out “Vle” and “Pa Vle”, which really has no French similarity. We are so grateful for the dedication of ACHF staff and volunteers; they have helped us make our family complete.

Mexico Update

This July, our project manager, Kent White, visited several orphanages near Tijuana, Mexico.



A Child's Hope Foundation is currently investigating the opportunity to either create a new adoption orphanage or partner with an existing orphanage which will dedicate resources to the care of infants and toddlers. Only a handful of the roughly 150 orphanages in Baja California accept infants, as infants require many more resources than older children. Currently Tijuana has great need for infant care as many are being abandoned at an alarming rate due to the economy drawing so many indigents to the city from other parts of the country, who then find themselves unable to care for their children.

We are also excited by the recent changes in Mexican laws which is creating a great response from Mexican citizens to adopt these orphaned and abandoned children. According to one of the directors I visited with, of those children that are ages 0-4 when they arrive, at least 85% are adopted by adoptive Mexican parents, and the trend is strengthening. Culturally, Mexicans are more and more open to adoption and have similar values as American adoptive parents and adopt for similar reasons. At this time we foresee the adoption of these children only to couples who are Mexican citizens. We are currently seeking funding to make this project a reality.

Haiti Days Celebration

Our first annual Haiti Days Celebration was a tremendous success. This summer we were thrilled to have a reunion of sorts for the volunteers and families who have adopted children from our facility in Haiti. Craig and Angela Davis, our first adoptive parents, report their experience.



The Haiti Days celebration was so much more than just a reunion. You could see it in the children's eyes, that twinkle of recognition and remembrance of their old Haitian playmates. It was great for all the kids to see just how well each other are doing since coming to the U.S. to their new adoptive families.



Not only was it an incredible opportunity for all of the orphaned children that came from A Child's Hope Foundation's orphanage in Haiti to be reunited with each other, it was an opportunity for all the adoptive parents to get together and compare notes, experiences, and support. It was also an opportunity for the people who are considering international adoption to witness the actual outcome and pose questions to those who have already done it. There were also missionaries that had served in Haiti and many volunteer workers discussing both past and future volunteer projects, and others that were originally from Haiti all there celebrating that little, struggling half island of a country that is Haiti.

It was so much more than a reunion, and so worth our trip all the way from Southern California (with our five children) to be a part of.