Overseas adoption: One mom's voyage
Author: MARSHA CHWALIK

When Cecilia Mason was asked why she wasn’t adopting an American child, she says she didn’t have a good answer.
“I’d never considered anything else,” she says.
Mason, a correspondent for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, adopted her daughter, Virginia, from Vietnam in November 2002.
Originally, though, it was the plight of girls in another country that tugged at her heart.
“I felt the need, the desire to help some girl being dumped in China because her parents wanted a boy,” Mason says.
As a matter of fact, Mason says she filled out the majority of the detailed documentation needed for a Chinese adoption.
When Mason learned the Chinese government planned to restrict to 5 percent adoptions to single parents, she rethought her plans.
Mason, who is unmarried, was concerned she might go through the lengthy application process for a Chinese child and endure a long wait or worse yet, wind up empty-handed.

A long road to Vietnam
The Martinsburg woman opted for Pennsylvania-based Adoptions From The Heart to facilitate her application to adopt a Vietnamese child.
Once more, she filled out lengthy documents detailing her personal, medical and psychological history, among other paperwork.
She lists “proof you’re healthy, make a decent living and have (had) a home study by a licensed in-state agency” among the steps toward being deemed a fit adoptive parent.
Mason, 44, says it took less than a year for the adoption to be finalized. Her paperwork arrived in Vietnam in February 2002. She received a photo of her little girl in August.
“That’s when she became a real person,” Mason says. “That’s when she became Virginia,” named after Mason’s late grandmother.
In September, Mason took one of two trips to Vietnam. Virginia was born two months earlier in Ho Chi Minh City.
Mason describes the government orphanage as a “nice facility.” She says after she and other adoptive parents got to see and hold their babies, they had to leave them there and fill out more paperwork in a Vietnamese government office.
Six weeks later, Mason returned with her sister to claim Virginia. They were able to pick her up the next day, but had to stay in the country for nine more days to have Virginia’s entrance into the United States approved.

Parenting 101: A crash course
Mason’s home underwent some changes to welcome in her new daughter.
Virginia’s nursery is a mix of little-girl equipment and Vietnamese culture, and another room seems almost entirely devoted to Virginia’s playthings. The television is playing a Baby Einstein tape as Virginia toddles about.
“Being an adoptive mother is like being any other mother,” Mason says.
“You have this little person who has needs and wants and can’t speak. You have to figure out what she wants.”
Asked if the seasoned reporter did any research before entering into parenthood, she says she bought a book about Vietnam and read a Dr. Spock manual.
Mason says she took 2 1/2 months away from work to bond with Virginia.
“Time well spent,” she says.
Mason says being a career woman and a mom don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but Virginia gets first priority.
“She becomes the center of everything outside of work, and sometimes work gets set aside for her,” she says.
As for being a single parent, Mason says, “I think it’s great single people can adopt. Oh, you don’t have that second person to fall back on, but it’s helpful to have a good support system in place.”

A matter of culture
Before she left Vietnam, Mason says she purchased several items from her new daughter’s culture, including artwork, hats, toys, and dresses in several sizes for Virginia.
Asked how she plans to walk the fine line between two cultures, Mason says, “I want her to understand and love her culture, but I don’t think she’ll consider herself Vietnamese.”

The sum total
Mason says she has lost track of how much it cost her to adopt Virginia.
“It didn’t matter in the long run,” she says.
It’s not an inexpensive process, though. Mason says some agencies charge $500 for an application fee.
“So much depends on costs that can’t be predicted … like airfare, doing paperwork again when regulations change, hotel costs, etc.,” Mason says.
She suggests those considering adoption check into some of the services’ Web sites to get a ballpark figure. Adoption costs could reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Some words of advice
For those considering a foreign adoption, Mason has some words of advice.
For those whose search begins on the Internet, she encourages prospective parents to ask for references and cross-reference adoption agency names with that state’s Better Business Bureau, and Health and Human Services offices to determine if any complaints have been levied against them.
Next, expect to be scrutinized.
“It’s an invasive process, adoption. They come to your house, do a background check, fingerprint check, financial, marital situation, health ...” says Mason.
Once you’ve begun your application process, don’t let up, she says.
“Try to document everything as carefully as possible. Don’t delay on your paperwork. Stick on it like glue,” she says. “A week or two can make a difference.”
Finally, expect the unexpected.
“They can change their rules at any second,” she says.
As she sits with little Virginia, Mason has few regrets.
“I did this because there are a lot of children in this world who need a home and it is incumbent on us to help.”
It is worthwhile to note that at this time, adoptions from Vietnam may be delayed or halted. Officials there, prompted by concerns over baby selling, are centralizing their adoption process.
As of Jan. 2, a “memorandum of understanding” must exist between the country of the adoptive parents and Vietnam regarding the new processes before adoptions can resume.

Sidebar
An Internet search on foreign adoptions can net nearly 24,000 sites.
Before proceeding with adoptions, either foreign or domestic, it is advisable to look into adoption laws in your particular state.
As for foreign adoptions, the U.S. State Department on International Adoptions Publication 10300 warns prospective parents that the United States may not be able to intervene for them if the adoption goes awry:
“International adoption is essentially a private legal matter between an individual (or couple) who wishes to adopt and a foreign court, which operates under that country’s laws and regulations. U.S. authorities cannot intervene on behalf of prospective parents with the courts in the country where the adoption takes place. However, the Department of State does provide extensive information about the adoption processes in various countries and the U.S. legal requirements to bring a child adopted abroad to the United States.”


Some Web sites recommended by Mason:
www.holtintl.org/flash
www.adoptionsfromtheheart.org
www.chinesechildren.org

< < return to article summary | archives > >