Our partnership with BAAS allowed for Bo to come home faster than he could have otherwise!
Lorraine and Gary* adopted their first child, Tyler, domestically through Adopt International in 2013. A couple of years later, when they decided to adopt a second child, they were eager to work with the same agency. And so they updated their paperwork and began the wait. All of us at Adopt waited with them.
They waited six months... and then a year... and then a year and a half.
As the weeks and months went by, Tyler continued to grow and thrive. They celebrated his birthday and holidays, just like any other family would. But always, they were waiting for a call that would make their family complete.
When we entered into our partnership with BAAS, I realized that Lorraine and Gary would be a great match for their China program. I talked to them about moving their file over. It would be more paperwork - again - but it might also mean they could bring their second child home sooner. It might mean an end to the waiting.
So they filled out the paperwork. They met BAAS's wonderful China Program Coordinator, Xiaoqing. They familiarized themselves with China's process. And just two months later, they got the call they'd been waiting for so long. Four months after that, they were holding Bo in their arms.
Now Bo has been home with his mother, father, and older brother for six months. He just celebrated his second birthday. He loves quiet time with his mom and Granny while Tyler is at school. His mom says he loves trying new foods, just like so many other toddlers. He is a happy, healthy handful.
But most importantly, he is so incredibly loving and loved.
This wonderful family, and this precious little boy, might have missed all of this time together - all of this love - if our partnership wasn't in place. I look at pictures of Bo and his family, and I know that our work isn't just about paperwork.
It's about children. It's about families.
***
As this family's story shows, our partnership has already allowed us to prove that, working together, our agencies have more opportunities to make the right match, to find families for children faster than either agency could do it alone.
So this partnership - and this merger - is for Bo. It's for Lorraine, and Gary, and Tyler. It's for every child that will have a loving family days or weeks or months sooner than they would otherwise. And for every family that will wait fewer days and months and years to be complete.
*Family names changed for privacy
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