89th Airlift Squadron reservist and family wait arrival of adopted son

  • Published
  • By Stacy Vaughn
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  A beautiful 2-year-old baby boy named Tate sits in an orphanage in Kyrgyzstan while his soon-to-be adoptive parents, Capt. Scott and Kami DeBoer, wait for news at their home in Fairborn, Ohio, on when they can bring him home.

The DeBoer's saga is one of approximately 65 cases in which families in the U.S. and Canada had in-process adoptions put on hold by the Kyrgyz government. The government halted all international adoptions early in 2009 as it pondered ways to overhaul regulations and means to root out corruption in the adoption system. With the government still mulling the issues, 65 families are stuck in limbo while 65 Kyrgyz children--many with special needs--sit in orphanages.

In the meantime, the DeBoer's 3-year-old son, Kaleb, adopted from the same orphanage in 2007, keeps asking when his new baby brother will be coming home. The couple was able to adopt Kaleb and start the process to adopt Tate before the government halted the adoption process.

The adoption process for Kaleb involved time, patience and a lot of paperwork.

"We had been trying to have children for a long time and we finally decided to look into adopting. We realized then that there was a calling for us to adopt," Captain DeBoer said.

Captain DeBoer said they first wanted to adopt a child from Russia because when he was younger, he participated in a student exchange program and felt a strong bond with the culture while living with a Russian family.

During their research, the DeBoers realized the youngest child you could adopt was between the ages of two-to-three years-old. The adoption process was very lengthy, requiring more than 90 documents to be completed and at a minimum, the parents had to make two trips to Russia before the adoption became final.

"As we researched agencies offering Russia adoptions, we came across information about Christian World Adoption. We saw they had a Kyrgyzstan adoption program that offered the opportunity to adopt infants and only required one trip to Kyrgyzstan," Kami said.

According to their Web site, CWA accepts applications for families wanting to adopt a child from 6-months to 14-years of age. The wait for a referral of a child is typically 3-to-6 months after the paperwork is submitted and approved in Kyrgyzstan. The total adoption time is about 8-to-12 months.

"Especially being our first child, we wanted a young child since that's what we've been longing for. Kaleb was referred to us at 4 ½ months old, and we brought him home when he was 7 ½ months old," Kami said.

Kami said Kaleb was very tiny when they brought him home. He was abandoned at a hospital when he was born and spent three months in there because he was premature. Now that he's been with them, he's healthy and has put on weight.

"A lot of the children in the orphanages there have medical needs. The children just are not receiving the proper nutrition that they need at such a delicate age," Kami said.

After bringing home Kaleb, the couple decided they wanted to adopt another child from Kyrgyzstan and had gone through the process of filling out the paperwork when the government halted all adoptions. As of today, there's no word on when the process will begin again. The families involved have grown close and formed a support group.

In the meantime, as they wait for him to come home, the DeBoers admire a new photo they recently received of Tate taken earlier this year.

"We just received a new photo of Tate in February. He has grown so much since his last photo that we had of him dated August of 2008. He's now two years old. He's really cute and he has huge dimples," Captain DeBoer said.

Captain DeBoer said he came close to visiting the orphanage during a recent mission to the area with his unit but after doing the math and coordinating with the right people, the 1 ½ hour drive to the orphanage just didn't work out.

"I came so close to visiting Tate and everyone was so helpful to try and help me but it just didn't work out at that time," Captain DeBoer said.

The DeBoers would like to share their experiences with other families interested in the adoption process, not just for adoptions in Kyrgyzstan but for other countries, so families who are not familiar with the adoption process won't have to go through it alone.

"When we started looking at adopting, we didn't know anyone who went through the process so we had no idea what to expect and had to research what to do for every step of the process. Along the way, we encountered several hurdles, overcoming each one. But through the process, we met several families going through the same situation, some who have adopted children in other countries. We are still in touch with some of them," Captain DeBoer said.

In the meantime, Kaleb asks his mommy and daddy when his new brother will be coming home.

"Kaleb is so excited about Tate. For two years, he's heard Tate's name mentioned and sees pictures of him. We hope to bring him home soon. In our hearts, we're his parents. He needs us and we need him," Kami said.