Americans adopting more African children Orphans available and wars ending
Ian Gee, a lawyer from Idaho, talked with his newly adopted son, Obdiyeah, 5, as Lincoln, 13 months, also just adopted by Gee, slept on his arm last week in Monrovia, Liberia. The number of adoptions from Liberia greatly expanded after 2003, after the end of 14 years of civil war. (Globe Staff Photo/John Donnelly) By John Donnelly, Globe Staff | May 19, 2006
MONROVIA, Liberia -- American couples are adopting more African children, prompted by an increase in the number of orphans, the end of wars, and even by movie star Angelina Jolie's adoption of a baby girl in Ethiopia last year, according to analysts and agencies that help place the children.
Ethiopia and Liberia have become particularly popular for adoptive Americanparents because of the relatively simple regulations and because both nations allow US agencies to operate in their countries, facilitating the complicated process.
Last year, US immigration officials granted 623 visas for orphans from Ethiopia and Liberia, according to the State Department; this year, the figure is expected to grow substantially, perhaps by several hundred children, US consular officials predicted. The 2005 figure for the two countries is nearly 10 times what it was in 1995.
International adoptions began in substantial numbers in the aftermath of World War II, as US parents took in German and Japanese orphans. In 2005, China and Russia accounted for more than half of all international adoptions, followed by Guatemala, South Korea, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Ethiopia is seventh on last year's list, Liberia 12th, and Nigeria 17th. In all, 22,728 children received US visas last year, more than triple the number in 1990.
''We definitely see a spike in the number of adoptions from Africa," said Adam Pertman, executive director of Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a New York-based advocacy group that researches adoptions laws, policies, and practices.
GLOBE GRAPHIC: Babies from Africa Pertman attributed the increase to news reports on AIDS orphans and the realization by some African countries that ''they can't cope with their numbers of children . . . and some of it is star driven. After Angelina Jolie adopted a kid from Ethiopia, agencies got a spate of calls from parents wanting to know how to adopt a kid from Ethiopia."
Jolie, 30, adopted Zahara Marley, an AIDS orphan, last year; she had already adopted Maddox, a boy from Cambodia, who is now 4. She and movie star Brad Pitt, 42, are now staying in the southern African country of Namibia, where Jolie is expected to deliver their first biological baby any day now. They said they chose Namibia because they loved the natural environment, and because they hoped it would afford them some privacy.
While Americans have adopted Ethiopian children for years, the number of adoptions from Liberia greatly expanded after 2003, after the end of 14 years of civil war.
A year ago, Ian and Dena Gee of Garden Valley, Idaho, 40 miles north of Boise, decided to adopt children from Liberia. Last week, Ian Gee, and his sister, Colette Blair, picked up three Liberian children in Monrovia.
''We chose Liberia because it was an area of great need," Gee said at a seaside restaurant, as the oldest child, Obdiyeah, 5, sat quietly on his lap. Blair held Benitoe, 3, while Lincoln, just 13 months, was asleep in the arms of a worker for the adoption agency, Acres of Hope. Gee's wife couldn't make the trip because of illness.

He said they took in a foster child for three weeks last year, and that propelled them to adopt.
''You feel like you can make such a difference in a child's life," said Gee, 37, a real estate lawyer. ''And doing it in Liberia, there's also a chance that these children can come back here and make a difference in their homeland."
The couple, who have three biological children, ages 2, 7, and 9, also were attracted by the ease of Liberia's regulations. Instead of an average wait of two years to adopt in some countries, the average waiting period in Liberia is eight months. Their adopted children were from two destitute mothers, they learned before the trip. ''They all came in malnourished; their families had no resources to feed them," Gee said.
Patty Anglin, executive director of Angels of Hope in Liberia, which has helped organize about 120 adoptions of Liberian children by Americans in the last year, said she has ''people at my gate every day, asking about leaving babies. Just this afternoon, I'm taking in a boy whose father thought he had a witch in him, so he put his face in a fire."
Anglin, who with her husband has seven biological and nine adopted children, is building a 20,000-square-foot orphanage outside Monrovia; it will have a capacity of 200 orphans. Her current orphanage houses between 32 and 70 children, she said.
GLOBE GRAPHIC: Babies from Africa ''For these children, adoption is lifesaving," she said. ''What I do is a small dent when you look at all the needy children here."
But social welfare officials in Liberia, one of the poorest countries in the world, where illiteracy is estimated at 85 percent, have decided to review the country's adoption regulations in light of the upsurge of interest from Americans. ''Our concern is that the adoption is done the proper way," Vivian Cherue, deputy minister for social welfare, said in an interview. ''Social workers already do a case history, but we just want to make sure in every case all that is said about the children and the parents is true."
Both the government and the agency conduct a history of the birth parents and the child. Cherue said her biggest worry is that birth parents do not realize they are relinquishing all their rights to their child. ''Some of them don't understand adoption and that when you relinquish a child, it is no longer yours," she said.
Added Monrovia lawyer Lois Brutus: ''Many mothers think their child is going for a better life. They think the child will send back money. They don't think they are going away forever."
Liberian government social workers and a Liberian court representative interview a member of the birth family as well as people in the community who know the family to determine that the birth mother and father understand they are relinquishing their rights and do not expect to be compensated from the adoption.
When Gee and his sister left Liberia last week, they took the three adopted children -- plus two more who had been adopted by Minnesota families.
Over the next 24 hours, the two adults and five children flew to Minneapolis, where they turned over the two other children to their new families. A day later, they flew to Boise and the Gees' four-bedroom house.
''Well, their little bodies are adjusting pretty well," Gee said by telephone earlier this week. ''And my wife and I are adjusting, too. When you've doubled your family in an instant, you pinch yourself and go, 'We're not just baby-sitting three kids for someone else. These are ours.' "
They are setting new routines: dinner by 6 p.m., baths by 7, bedtime by 8:30. And Gee plans to trade in his Chevrolet Tahoe (which can seat eight), for something larger. ''There's a whole lot of life around here," he said. ''It's amazing."
John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly@globe.com

I can't knock anybody who is qualified and loving enough to open their homes up to orphans...



BUT...at the same time....Americans adopting these kids from war torn areas...is like a trend....a fashion...



Plenty adopted children from asian continent during their conflicts in the 70s....and now the children of dead people from Africa..are the "prized adoptees"



Again....I can't totally knock them..but in this country..there are thousands, if not hundreds of children who are in foster care and ready to be adopted....white, black asian, polynesain,etc..

These children from these war torn countries need help also...but I find it strange that people woul dgo through the legal marathon of adopting foregin born child when there are plenty of orphans and foster care kids HERE...

SMELLS like paternalism....and questionable motives.....like adopting an "exotic pet" or something.....where you do it just to be able to say you did it...

I don't know..maybe the process is easier for kids from certain places.....than for childrenm in american foster care/orphanage system..



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as far as whether our people adopt...I'd have to disagfree with you Masai...

We have extended families....which is de facto adoption..I'd bet on your block there are at least 2 households made up of people raising children that they didn't biologically produce....nieces, grandkids.etc..

for a number of reasons...our families are fragmented and often we have to care for our relatives kids or take reatives in..

I think this is true for black families across the socio-econimc scale...temporarily caring for somebody else's kids....

As a community we hardly have the resources to adopt people unrelated to us...in this country or from other places....

I see no problem with white folks adopting african children because they won't necesarily treat the baby any worse than african parents. Especially if I include personalexperience. I have seen (and _I know first hand , withoutmentioning anymore)how blood realtives to the adoptive kids treat the children as borderline slaves. Working the kids to near death , while their own children simply chill.

Also reminds of this African family I know.They have 3 very bright girls (one of them is like the best primary 5 student in their City) yet they work the girls like hell, keep getting children and letting these girls (of whom the eldest is 12 years) raise the Children. They eat very bad (among many things),partially becasue the mother ( she is the one who gets the Child support) spends most of the money or time to party,rather buying a new dress than food for her kids. The father is not strong enough to resist her and can't do shit and has other"issues", neither does he know the language or have a job. Shortly put the immense talent of these girls are wasted. And I know don't think there is a greater sorrow then the waste of black talent, especially in times such as these.

That said, I don't think whites raise kids (black or white), better than africans. My point is merely to illustrate that african don't necessarily raise their kids better. Although the children will be better prepared, so okay African parents have the potential to raise an africankid better than white. A good african parent will be able raise a an african kid better than good a goo white parent, in a perfecr there would beno difference. Although that does not necessarilygo vice versa



However white parentsprobably won'tteach themhistory and culture, not that most african do that anyway (in the West).Almost all the african history I know of has been self-taught for example. The eventual impact that is racism is also something some whites may have problems copingwith, even less so helpin an african kid. .No to mention all those white pedophiles who may see these african orphans a freebees (we have read about white pedophiles traveling to africa for one sole reason). That's my biggest fear and the only reason , I could be against it. But I am not, since I don't think the majority of whites (who adopt)are pedophiles. Also the white parentsmight teach (not out right) the kidsto despise africa and talk about how they were "saved" (you know white Saviour). However all of this is merely speculation. All I can hope for is that they are taken care of...

And I would love to have more african americans adopt more black kids (AA+ african ones). We could do some good work there. However as it is now, AA have more kids than there are males (around) to take care of. So I can't blame them.

good points..DP



some segmentof people who adopt children..do it as a way to make money...since the state provides them a subsidy to provide for them....they abuse the system and keep taking kids in......

all races of lowlife scum abuse the system and use these kids as a paycheck..and that's just with american born kids......

I think the chances to abuse the system if you have means(and aren't regulated by the state agencies) is worst......

crazy issue