Hi friends!
We have some family news that we are very thrilled to share with you all…
We are currently in the process of adopting a child from Taiwan!!!
Adoption has been something that Sam and I had been thinking about lightly, then seriously, then all the different states in-between for awhile now. We’re very grateful for all the incredible resources and people who have been willing to talk to us about all the different approaches to and considerations of adoption – we’ve been learning SO much! It’s been both eye-opening and terrifying…but after months of praying and talking together as a family, we feel a sense of peace and excitement about the journey!
We know we cannot do this alone and covet your support and prayers along the way. Below are responses to some preliminary questions to provide a little more information on where we are at currently and what to expect next. Thank you so much for your care and friendship! It means so much to us.
Love,
The Yoon Family ~ Sam, Grace, Karis (11), Zoe (8)
Why do you want to adopt?
This is something we first started thinking about after we first had kids. After experiencing how much children thrive, grow, and develop with parental nurturing and affection, our hearts felt burdened for children who do not have a family to provide them with the love and care they deserve.
Recently, we started looking into it more, and then we talked about it every week as a family for months – sharing with each other our questions, research, thoughts, fears, and worries. There certainly were plenty of anxious thoughts to go around from everyone! But over the months, we’ve had some really amazing conversations, moments, bible verse inspiration, journaling, and ultimately peace together as a family. On April 5th, we put our hands all together in a pile and committed as a family to this process!
Now, we are excited and grateful for the opportunity to provide a loving and supportive family to a child in need of one – to be a place where they experience belonging, love, healing, and the space to dream for their future. As a family, we want to pursue truly meaningful and purposeful lives of loving others, compelled by God’s own reckless and unconditional love for us.
Why Taiwan?
Originally, we were looking to adopt from Korea as our family is already living out a blend of two cultures (Korean-American) and thought that would help with communication and transition. However, it is challenging to adopt from Korea right now for various reasons, and also the ages of children who are allowed to be adopted internationally are typically 3 and under. For us, we are looking for an older child (4 and above) who would be closer in age with our current children. So as we were talking with agencies about potential countries, Taiwan felt like a great fit, especially in terms of their child welfare system that seems to really prioritize the wellbeing of the child first, the high quality medical-care children receive, and the stability of the Taiwan adoption program. Also, Sam lived in Taiwan during his middle-school and high-school years! So we have some connection to the country and culture, and can appreciate the importance of maintaining and honoring the child’s ties to their Asian heritage.
Do you know the child you are adopting?
No, not yet. That will likely not happen for a while. We are able to indicate some general parameters that we are looking for – such as age range, gender, and what special needs we feel we can handle as a family, but the “match” with a potential child can take awhile and really depends on a variety of factors. On another note – Grace is open to two kids (sibling set) if that’s what works out, but Sam is not so sure about being outnumbered by that much. 🙂 Zoe says she wants 4 kids and Karis is team Sam.
How long will the process take? What is your current status now?
Potentially several years. We are currently in the home study stage. This is where we are working with an agency and its social workers to get a document that clears us for adoption. This document will contain the outcome of a thorough evaluation that describes our background, family relationships, parenting styles, financials, home environment, etc. It is months of paperwork, doctor forms, interviews, social worker house visits, trainings, and more.
After that, we would be eligible to match with a child, but that could take up to a year or even double that. Then after you match with a child, it can still take up to a year before you can travel to Taiwan to bring the child home because of all the paperwork and legal proceedings. Depending on the court/legal proceedings, we may also have to travel to Taiwan twice – the first time to attend a court hearing and the second time to finalize and bring the child (children?? haha) home. We are really hoping the process will move along smoothly, but we know there may be unexpected delays and challenges along the way.
For now we are working through the home study requirements and doing the various training required to be better informed and educated adoptive parents. Next week we will actually be flying out to Texas for a two-day training with our agency on trauma-informed parenting and models on how to engage children from hard places.
Kids’ Corner
It’s been a really wonderful blessing to walk through this as a TEAM with our kids. Here are some of their thoughts about becoming big siblings to a new brother or sister.
Karis – When I first got the news of adopting, it was pretty scary. I mean like having a new kid be brought into your life? But I feel like God is leading us towards this and I want to help kids that don’t have families, got hurt, and didn’t get the luxurious life. I want to share that with another person and to make their life better. Part of my personality is that I am very punctual, want to be on time, go with the schedule, plan everything out, you know, but I realized sometimes I need to pray and put my faith in God and let him do the rest. I don’t worry anymore because we are not at the time yet and I am just wasting energy. I can’t wait to meet our adopted kid!
Zoe – I feel great. It will be a little different and I’m excited. But there will be some hard changes and sacrifices, but I think we’re up for it. And all the adventures we will have with the kid, it will be amazing. At the beginning, things might be a little challenging. But after that I think things will go better. My hope is that we get a happy kid and even if the kid is not, we will try to make them happy. One of my worries is all the responsibility. If the kid makes a big mess, and I have to clean it up, I don’t think I’m up for that right now. My hope is that the kid likes it here at our home and that we go on amazing things together with the kid and the kid is safe and protected by us and he or she feels loved.
Thank you again for reading and for your encouragement and support! We would love your prayers for the journey up ahead!
