[blparent] Seeking parents who are blind and who adopted

Sun Aug 30 15:59:59 UTC 2009

Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for sharing and giving us hope :)
We started with Holt, but they are currently prohibited from working with 
New York adoptive families, as is many other agencies working with Korea. 
they actually put numbers on how many children are allowed to be adopted out 
to U.S. families, and restrict which agencies from each state can have 
access to certain numbers of children...
Again, thanks much for your response. It is encouraging to hear of families 
who have been formed through International adoption, especially with visual 
impairment involved. It gives us hope even though this is probably the worst 
time in history for international adoption.

Best wishes, Sherry

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "E. Tarr" <esquared100 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 11:41 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Seeking parents who are blind and who adopted

> Hello, Sherry.
>     I know of several couples who have adopted disabled children from
> Korea, including my parents who adopted four disabled children from
> Korea, myself included.  I also know of a couple who adopted a little
> girl who is blind from Thailand.
>     I was adopted through Holt, but that was 25 years ago.  I would
> have to ask around to find out what the other agencies were.
>
> Elizabeth
>
> On 8/29/09, Sherry DeFrancesco <sdefrancesco at optonline.net> wrote:
>>
>> 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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>>
>>
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>
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