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More couples come forward calling on feds to reconsider change in foreign adoption rules

fili@samoanews.com

A US couple has shared with the US State Department and others who read it online, their heart-breaking story of adopting from Samoa in 2015 a three-year old boy who was a “victim of abuse and has scars to prove it.”

In sharing their story, the couple called on the federal agency to reconsider the proposed new stringent rules on inter-country adoptions as more US families have voiced their strong opposition on the rules.  Among the concerns raised by US parents is that the proposed rules will make it difficult to adopt from countries like Samoa and that new proposed fees will not be affordable.

Samoa News has reported since early last month about US parents, who have adopted children from Samoa, opposing the proposed rules. Last week, a US couple wrote to the State Department about the 3-year old, victim of abuse, they adopted from Samoa in 2015.

“When we adopted him we knew that he had a cleft palate and was developmentally delayed but we had no idea what to expect,” the couple wrote in their letter, which described meeting a sweet three-year-old “with the biggest personality.”

A little over a month after adopting the child, the three-year old underwent surgery to repair his cleft palate, as well as having ear tubes placed, and 6 teeth removed. The couple also found that the boy had a hearing loss and he was able to get hearing aids in November of 2015.

“His developmental level when we brought him home was close to an infant in many ways, but since then he has grown by leaps and bounds — both physically and developmentally,” the letter says.

“He has grown at least 10 inches and gained 20 pounds, but more importantly we have found out that he is an extremely smart boy that was delayed due to the environment that he was in the first few years of his life,” the letter says.

“He has grown stronger and was not able to speak except for grunting and pointing to what he wants. He is seeing a speech therapist and his vocabulary grows every day and can carry conversations with us because he can now hear what we are saying due to his hearing aids,” the couple says.

However, the couple says they are saddened that if the proposed rules are made final, “there will be so many more children like our son that will not have this chance. He was taken out of his abusive environment into a shelter where he was loved and cared for. We were happy to support this shelter while our son was there because we knew they were taking care of him and the other children at the shelter.”

“Anyone that meets him, falls in love with him immediately. He doesn't know a stranger and gives love to everyone he meets and puts a smile on their faces. He has come so far in the less than 2 years that he has been with us and I have no doubt that he will continue to thrive,” according to the couple who are also in process of adopting another sweet little one-year-old that is also a victim of abuse.

According to the couple if the proposed rules are final and adopted into federal law, through legislative process, “it could shut down adoptions in Samoa and what will happen to the children there?”

The couple urged the federal government to, “Please think of the children in Samoa and other countries that have so many children that want a family to belong to. Children like our child that will thrive once they are placed with a family. I have shed many tears just thinking about what would happen to all of them if they have to close because when I look at my son every day, I thank God that he was placed in our family.”

A US female social worker, who helps manage the education and home study and post adoption process for parents adopting internationally at a Hague Accredited Adoption Agency, also wrote last Friday to the State Department asking them to withdraw the proposed rules until the department has the opportunity to research the damaging effects of these regulations, in collaboration with adoption agencies and education providers.

She says she and her husband adopted their daughter in 2014 from Samoa. And she strongly opposes the regulations for a number of reasons. Among them, she said, prohibition on childcare fees would be harmful to the children remaining in impoverished countries during their adoption process.

“Those fees ensured that my daughter received high-quality care until her adoption could be completed. My husband and I count ourselves lucky that in an impoverished country, where the government cannot afford to provide for its neediest children, our daughter was kept healthy and safe,” she said.

Details of the proposed federal rules, as well as comments from US parents and others are available on federal portal (www.regulations.gov).