Dear Friends and Family,
We want to thank you again for your support this year as we have walked through the difficult process of adoption. We have not updated in awhile because, for the last three months, we have been living in a state of unknown. On March 2nd, the Ugandan Parliament passed a law which would make adoption impossible for us, as well as most other foreigners. That same week we got matched with two little girls, Claire (age 3 ½) and Gorrett (age 1 ½). After talking with our agency, we decided to go forward with the adoption despite the law with the hope that we could complete the adoption before the President signed the law. Obviously this has been a very stressful three months.
Earlier this month we got back the results of the family investigation for the girls. Their father is deceased, the mother is HIV+ and the girls are living with an uncle who struggles to meet their needs. On top of daily living expenses, school cost money in Uganda and one of the girls also needs HIV medication. The immediate family is very supportive of the adoption believing that this is what is best for the girls but when a cousin of the mother was interviewed he would not support adoption (nor would he help the girls). Since that cousin could come to court and testify against the adoption, the attorney concluded the adoption too risky to move forward. Knowing the current situation in Uganda, we have decided not to move forward with matching with other Ugandan children. We are currently investigating ways to monetarily support the girls. If you are interested in helping or having the money you donated to us go to this, please email or call us.
Our plan B is staying with the same adoption agency and going on a waitlist for children from another, more stable, country. This is a very lengthy process and is estimated to take 4-6 years to be matched. This is because we are asking for siblings and this is rare in other countries. We still feel like adoption is in our future and want to continue working with our excellent agency. There are other options for countries but we do not want to sign onto another unstable country that might fail mid-year. Staying with this agency will allow us not to lose most of the $10,000 we have put into adoption so far. In the meantime, we will be working through fertility procedures.
You have helped us raise a lot of money, over $35,000 total. We are so thankful for your love and support. Our plan has obviously changed and we completely understand if you would like a refund for the money you have given us for our Ugandan adoption. The cost of an adoption in another country is about the same (a little more) than an adoption in Uganda but it will not happen for a few years. Another option for your donation is for us to donate the money to help support Claire and Gorrett (if we cannot find a reliable way to do this, we will donate that money to an organization that works with Ugandan children). Finally, you could also choose to donate your contribution towards our fertility plan. Please let us know what you would prefer.
Again, we are beyond blessed with our support network. Thank you for walking through this journey alongside us.
Love,
Amy and David