Colombian Culture, Colombia Adoption and Raising Colombian Kids

Report from yesterday's newspaper "El Tiempo": "A hermaphrodite child was abandoned at a hospital in Chinchiná, Caldas. According to personnel from the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) at the Risaralda regional office, the child was born a month and a half ago and suffers from multiple complications. She has already been operated on in order to define her gender, however, she is still receiving oxygen and is using a feeding tube. The ICBF psychologist in charge of the case stated that the child was registered with the name María José. Her mother was a sex worker in the area and has already manifested her desire to place the baby for adoption because she cannot take responsibility for the child. As a measure for the reestablishment of the child's rights, she in now under the care of a foster mother who has been receiving training as to how to care for the child when she leaves the hospital." Clearly, if María José eventually receives a declarati...

Recently, ICBF posted their report of the adoption statistics for 2010. I found them very interesting. Today and tomorrow, I will highlight some aspects of the report. In 2010, there were a total of 3,058 adoptions in Colombia. The surprising statistic is to see how many of those adoptions were of children with special needs -- 889. Keep in mind the definition of SPECIAL NEEDS ADOPTION in COLOMBIA: Children with disabilities (physical, mental or health issues), children over 8 years of age, and sibling groups of 3 or more. In 2003-2004, Colombia implemented their Hague compliant adoption program, with goals to increase adoptions of children with Special Needs. The cool thing is to see how their desire to meet their goals has actually brought about as increase in Special Needs Adoptions. Look at the statistics for children with Special Needs that found forever homes: In 2002, there were 349 -- 13% of all adoptions. In 2003, there were 392 -- 22% of all adoptions. In 2004, there were ...

Yesterday, I wrote about the age range changes for adoptive parents. Today I wanted to discuss what the new "lineamiento" or guidelines say about special needs adoptions. First, ANYONE (including single parents) OF ANY AGE over 25 can be considered for the adoption of a child with Special Needs -- no matter the age of the child in question. Second, people wishing to adopt children with special needs RECEIVE ALL PRIORITY. Meaning that their paperwork will be processed before any other people. Third, Adoptive Parents requesting a child with Special Needs are considered 1st Priority and therefore are NOT placed on a wait list at all upon approval. Fourth, ICBF states that once the dossier is approved by them, the referral process will take no more than 3 months. Finally, Special Needs children are defined as the following: a. Sibling groups of 3 or more. b. Sibling groups of 2, when one is older than 8 years of age. c. A single, healthy child, if older than 8 years of age. d....

Yesterday's post on Special Needs adoption made me think of a conversation I had recently with and adoptive mother named Jill. She called me to talk about adoptions from Colombia. She was very specific in her desires to adopt a child that was HIV positive. I was kind of curious about this and I made a whole new discovery. There is an entire adoptive community for HIV positive kids -- and before you out click -- give me a chance. Jill told me of her HIV positive daughter, adopted from Guatemala a few years ago. She told me that of many of the Special Needs out there, she considers HIV one of the most doable. Most children are perfectly normal in every way except for their blood. They learn, grow, walk, run, read, write, play, take gymnastics, swim, play soccer, etc. like any other child. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions (based on info found at the following web site: http://www.positivelyorphaned.com/ : Q. How long will my child be likely to live? A. With prope...

As of March 31, 2009, there were 7,937 children and adolescents that have official declarations of abandonment and belong to the category SPECIAL NEEDS. This number is down from October's report of 8,211. Special Needs in Colombia is defined as children with disabilities, children over 8 years of age, and sibling groups of 3 or more. On the report by ICBF, from which I obtained these statistics, it states: These children are available immediately and families requesting children in this category will receive PRIORITY and PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT . Here is the breakdown of the 7,937 adoptable children in the Special Needs Category: 1,063 ---- children in good health younger than 7 that belong to large sibling groups down from 1,319 in October 543 ---- children younger than 7 with a physical or mental disability up from 504 in October 2,359 -- children between 8-17, some belong to sibling groups down from 2,843 in October 1,869 -- children between 8-17 with a physical or mental disabi...