[blparent] Seeking parents who are blind and who adopted

[Sherry DeFrancesco]

Hi Barbara,
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, since the Hague Convention, 
Guatamala and Vietnam are currently not in agreement with the U.S. and 
adoptions are not permitted at this time. Guatamala does not meet the Hague 
requirements, and I am not entirely certain why there are restrictions with 
Vietnam. It is all politics and bureaucracy as compared to years ago. Korea 
is slowly dwindling down in terms of adoption to U.S. citizens, or any 
country except for their own; and are  expected to stop all adoption by 
2012. So, we have explored these options already. We are now looking further 
into Ukraine. Perhaps, this will go well. There are no "restrictions" in 
their laws that restrict parents who are blind, but this could be because 
they do not believe that blind people would even apply :(
We shall see. It has been very difficult finding adoptive parents who are 
blind; apparently there are not that many, or perhaps there are and I just 
cannot find them...
China asked questions like "how much can they see?" Does one of them see?" 
"Well, if one of them out of the two has vision in at least one eye, then we 
will accept them"

This journey to adoption, for us, has been a nightmare, however, an 
incredible learning experience. There will be a light at the end of this 
tunnel--it is not in our nature to give up easily, or at all :)

Again, thank you for your response and suggestions :)
Best wishes, Sherry

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 9:47 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Seeking parents who are blind and who adopted


> Have you tried Guatemala?  That seems to be a popular one with the 
> adoption agency we went through.  Granted, all the ones I know are sighted 
> but I'm sure they can't be a country without a blind person.  What about 
> Korea or Vietnam, also?  Those are the only countries I can think of off 
> the bat. Mine are from China.  We got them a year before the requirements 
> changed.
> Barbara
>
> If wisdom's ways you wisely seek, five things observe with care:  of whom 
> you speak, to whom you speak, and how and when and where.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Sherry DeFrancesco" <sdefrancesco at optonline.net>
> Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 3:43 PM
> To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [blparent] Seeking parents who are blind and who adopted
>
>> Dear Blind Parent Listers,
>>
>> We are a married couple that is totally blind, and have been trying to 
>> adopt a child that is blind or visually impaired for the past two years. 
>> It has been a long and exhausting journey due to misconceptions and false 
>> beliefs about the abilities of parents who are blind. We have a New York 
>> state Foster Parent License, and a completed home study for international 
>> adoption. We have tried the New York foster care system, as well as 
>> International adoption agencies. New York state did not locate a child 
>> that is blind or vision impaired in the NY state foster care system, and 
>> we have been turned down by China, India and Russia. There are thousands 
>> of blind and vision impaired children out there all over the world who 
>> need loving homes including right here in the United States. If anyone 
>> out there has any information where we can find blind or vision impaired 
>> children in the U.S. in need of a forever family, or successfully adopted 
>> a child either domestically or internationally, and can lend some 
>> advice/guidance and/or resources to locate the support and understanding 
>> that we will need to complete a successful adoption, please contact me 
>> privately if you are willing at:
>> sdefrancesco at optonline.net
>>
>> I am also willing to discuss on the list if appropriate, however, a 
>> private conversation may be more appropriate-either way is fine with me.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Best wishes ~ Sherry DeFrancesco
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>
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