Tag Archives: adoption travel

Introducing Yourself to Your Child—Part Two: The Meeting

US adoptions often have a “Transition” period built in when children are moved from a foster home to an adoptive one. The ideal is to have the adoptive parents visit the child in his/her familiar space, for the foster parents to greet the adoptive parents so the child sees that foster mother is comfortable with them therefore they can probably be trusted, then have the foster parent begin a caregiving task such as giving a bottle or a bath then having the adoptive parent finish it. This gives the child “permission” to accept nurturing from the adoptive parents. There are … Continue reading →

To Travel or Not To Travel?

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When we prepared to receive our first daughter from Korea, we were lucky enough to be able to travel to receive her. Although Korea offers the option of having the child escorted, our child would be older than most of the Korean babies then coming over–between nine and twelve months old, prime stranger anxiety stage. We felt it would be even harder on her to bond with a strange escort for 16 hours or so then be passed over to another set of strange hands. I was trying to think of it from the baby’s point of view. I didn’t … Continue reading →

Traveling to Our Daughter, Part Three: Going Home!

Very early the next morning we were scheduled to go home. I entered the meeting room to find the foster mother sobbing over the baby. I backed out quickly to give her some privacy. The social worker gave me a diaper bag and explained the directions on the formula canister and Tylenol bag, which were in Korean. Although escorting our baby ourselves, we had to sign the same forms volunteer escorts do. After the whole homestudy process, it was a bit strange to be signing papers affirming that I “had babysitting experience” and promised to deliver the baby safely to … Continue reading →