Global adoption an answer

This article rings true for me as well. When we were looking into adoption we first investigated domestic adoption, and after two years of what seemed like hell, we finally decided to adopt overseas.

I have always considered it sad that our domestic (US) adoption system is so screwed up that it is an easier process to adopt from China than it is from our own country.

By Rich Davis (Contact)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Paul Mlinar of Wadesville, Ind., once was attacked by a grizzly bear while vacationing in Alaska.

He tells people the experience wasn't as painful as the adoption battle he and his wife, Claudia, faced.

The biological mother of Luke, the baby boy they brought into their hearts and home in 1997, had second thoughts, took them to court and won visitation rights. But when Luke was 2, she stopped coming to see him.

It was stressful for everyone involved, so when the Mlinars decided to adopt a second child they went to China to get Olivia.

Today, the couple disagree on domestic adoption, with Claudia suggesting their experience was the exception to the rule.

But stories such as theirs — along with movies, highly publicized court cases such as Baby Jessica and TV shows such as "Desperate Housewives" that depict domestic adoption as full of risks — have made international adoption a popular option for some Americans.

The Mlinars' experience is one of several personal stories featured in an hour-long radio documentary — "Internationally Born, Indiana Raised" — airing at 6 p.m. Sunday on WNIN-FM 83.3.

It was produced by Erin Gibson of Evansville in conjunction with WSIU Public Radio in Carbondale, Ill., as part of her masters research project at Southern Illinois University.

Gibson, who will teach journalism this fall at the University of Southern Indiana, says she and her husband, John, a radio announcer at WIKY-FM 104.1, hope to adopt a child.

The documentary touches on several Evansville stories, including:

n Sonya Lawton, a Korean War orphan adopted by an Evansville couple in 1958. Her father had served in Korea and told his wife about the orphans he saw, many of them fathered by American GIs.

n David Miller, an Evansville attorney who in the 1980s — after publicity about Mexican and Brazilian children he and his wife adopted — was besieged by requests for him to arrange Brazilian adoptions.

n Molly Fowler, a 4-year-old from Guatemala, adopted by Lydia and Anthony Fowler. You'll hear Molly greet her baby sister Maggie (from China) at Evansville Regional Airport.

The program examines why some parents choose international over domestic adoption, documents the history of international adoption in Evansville (beginning in the 1950s with Korean orphans) and explores how families honor the birth cultures of their children.

One segment visits a weekly Chinese culture class for children at Families Thru International Adoption, an East Side agency licensed in six states and involved in more than 2,500 adoptions.

It is estimated that more than 22,000 overseas children were adopted by Americans in 2005, with the percentage of international adoptions more than doubling between 1990 and 2000, from 6 to 14 percent.

Erin Gibson says while some couples are able to adopt American-born children relatively quickly, many wait for years, which can be stressful for a couple in their 30s and 40s who realize they are unable to have a biological child.

International adoption, while not simple, typically takes less time. But it can be expensive (about the price of a new car).

The bottom line, says Gibson, is that you "adopt because you want to be a parent, not because you're sympathetic."

The program refers listeners to a Web site where they can find photographs, adoption articles, streaming audio and other resources. A link to the Web site will be available at www.wsiu.org after the documentary airs.