Find Families for Older Colombian Orphan Children

When Vivian was 12, she arrived from Colombia for a 6-week stay with Susan and Thomas in the US. “I was fortunate because Susan speaks excellent Spanish; you would think she’s from a Latin American country.” It wasn’t difficult for her to bond with her host family, though she remained unsure of being adopted.

“Over the summer, I just took the gentleness of my Thomas, and I noticed from the get-go how strong Susan was. It was a little scary to me because I’ve never seen a woman so independent and so well put together.” Growing up in a Colombian orphanage, Vivian’s education was limited.

Although Susan and Thomas wanted to adopt her, Vivian returned to the orphanage for close to a year. “While I was in the U.S., I had a great time,” she says, “but I was also homesick for Colombia. Susan and Tom would call me every Sunday, and that was enough for a while,” she says. But then, “things just started to be very depressing in the orphanage, and I realized that when I turn 18, they just let you go, and who knows where I would be,” she says. 

At last, she made the call they’d been waiting for. “I called them one Sunday and said, I think I’m ready to leave this place. I think as soon I said that, they got on the plane, went to Colombia, and started the process of adopting me.”

Vivian remembers being “really red” when the papers were signed. “I was sweating and hot; I definitely cried, and so did my parents,” she says. “My favorite child psychologist was there, and even she cried.” Their journey home was an emotional one.

As the years went by, Vivian felt more and more at peace with her family. “They were interested in keeping my culture alive,” she says. “They would write me letters saying how proud they were of me, and they would see the potential in me that I’ve never seen anybody else see in me.” Her parents instilled confidence in Vivian in the best way. “To me, that was a huge thing, because I never had someone who would just be like, ‘you’re worth sticking it out for.’”

“Adopting an older kid, I’m not going to lie, is not roses — it’s hard and complicated,” Vivian says. “But if you are willing to give the kid that unconditional love, you are really going to change someone’s life.”

Links:

• About Kidsave
• Kidsave's Family Visit Model

For five exhilarating weeks this summer, 39 older Colombian orphans stayed with families in the US. Why? On the surface -- to enjoy a vacation and the chance to visit a different country, experience a new language and culture. But they were also part of Kidsave’s Summer Miracles program, aware that they just might meet a family they’d fall in love with and be adopted. They flew with chaperones to Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Wisconsin and South Carolina.

While staying with their host famlies, they hiked, swam, baked cookies, went on scavenger hunts, had their faces painted, and played goofy outdoor games -- all with visiting families, couples and singles who came to meet and begin to get to know them.

Through all the fun, their personalities, talents, quirks and ideas emerge and friendships start to blossom. As the summer progresses and they become more comfortable, events every weekend give them plenty of opportunities to meet more people. Host families introduce them to interested families at these fun, interactive events and spread the word that the kids are here.

This is the “family visit model” at work on four continents, quietly giving kids the voice, choice, and space to get to know, trust and love a new family.

Two weeks after the children return to Colombia, interested families can file for adoption. Typically, four out of five of the children are adopted soon after, and those who aren’t often return a few months later to stay with another family, and often are adopted.

This year, former “Kidsave kid” Duvan who was hosted in 2012 and then adopted, helped out at one of the advocacy events in Washington, D. C. “It means a whole lot to be able to contribute to a cause that helped me at one point. Being able to communicate with the kids, see their smiles, and help them find their adoptive parents, it means a lot to me,” said Duvan. “In 2012, maybe I wasn’t aware of it, but that’s what people were doing for me. And it changed my life. I’m happy I’m able to contribute even a tiny bit to that.”

Here are a few of the children who participated in the program this summer and found their forever family.

Links:

• About Kidsave
• Kidsave's Family Visit Model
• Kidsave's Summer Miracles program