More information about the babies...

Hello all! I'll tell you what, it will be very interesting to see how everything plays out with our Ghana adoptions. There's really no way to tell how it will go because we will be one of the first families to adopt through an agency in the country. At the same time, we are full of joyful anticipation! Having said that, we did get some more information about the children at OSU Children's Home. Evidently, many of them are *not* available for adoption. Some of them are living there on a short-term basis with the hope of being returned to their biological families in the future. Here is part of an email that our agency director sent out last week:

She said: "I asked our attorney in Ghana about all the babies that are in the pictures at the OSU Childen's Home. Here is his disappointing answer:

"Not all the kids at the Home are adoptable. the home also keeps children who belong to mothers serving terms in prison, those admitted to psychiatric hospitals etc. A few of them suffer some mental and physical disabilities and most prospective adopters do not want such children. some of the children may be there temporally under a care order."

The have also been questions about where babies are abandonded so I also asked our attorney his take on that:"when babies are abandoned at the hospital they are handed over to the Hospital welfare officer who hands the baby over to the Children's Home. It is common for babies to be abandoned in Hospitals. Babies can be abandoned at any other place. Any person who finds such a child is expected to send the child to the police and thence to the children home. The childrens home here are not the private orphanages but the State Residential Home for Orphaned children. for one reason or the other some abandoned children find themselves in private Orphanages."

I also asked about "The list" (waiting list for babies) his response:

"I hope this list I metioned is the prospective adoptors list. If so The Regional Directors of social welfare have the lists. You get on the list by applying for a baby from the department of social welfare and when the application is approved. most people apply for children age between 0-4 years. these children are usually not readily available especially girls."

So, more than ever we wonder how long it may take to receive the referrals of our children. Our hope is that because we want to adopt two children there may be a boy/girl sibling set just ready and waiting for us! Please pray that we are joined with our children at the perfect time, and that the Lord hold them safely in His hand until we can be united.