Why Colombia???

Why Colombia?  Well, first off, to you many uninformed souls :), international adoption is not more expensive than domestic adoption unless you go through the foster system for a domestic adoption. Adoptions domestically or internationally usually run between $30,000- $60,000. (And no, MUA does not cover 80% (lol :). We know one family who adopted an infant domestically and their cost was $75,000. Yikes, but when growing your family cost is not a factor. At first thought of adopting, Latin America was close to our hearts. I had spent 2 weeks in El Salvador as a teenager. We had visited many orphanages and of course (you can't help it :) fell head over heals in love with those dear, beautiful, chocolate children longing for love. M wholeheartedly agreed with the Latin America idea and was very enthused, though he left the hours of research up to me :). We actually started our home study for El Salvador, but then after more extensive research got cold feet at how new and inexperienced the adoption program was there. After more research all arrows pointed to COLOMBIA and now our hearts are stuck fast!
           Pros.

• Colombia has had a stable adoption program with the U.S. since the 1960s. 
• Colombia has always enforced "Hague" integrity and so Hague compliance has not been an issue. 
• It has been said the adoption program in Colombia runs like a well-oiled machine (something to dream about anyways!). 
• Generally the children are well-cared for, in good health and orphanages have sufficient funds. Some children are in foster care. 
• Detailed information on children 
• Colombia prefers young families which is good for us, because we are young :)

         Cons

• Stay in-country when you go to pick up your child is 4-8 wks. (which is not a con to us)

•  Wait time from dossier approval to referral is approximately 3 yrs for children under 4.  

   Ask anyone who has actually been to Colombia or better yet adopted from there and they will tell you of the brilliant flowers, lush mountains of rainforest and the friendly, beautiful people. However there are no guarantees with adoption from anywhere, but is it any different with birth children? I tend to think that you just don't "think" about it as much. Adoption takes huge amounts of faith. I can't imagine going through this process without faith in our Father. Oh yes, the unknown makes us quake and shake sometimes. Those ominous sounding words: RAD, FAS, trauma, abuse, bonding, and even temper tantrums. We like our soft, controlled life. But, WHAT are we here for? No, we are not exempt from mountains, in fact, we can be sure of mountains. And with our hand in our Saviour's... we can be just as sure of  the mountains of rainbows.