Announcing Sera

Sera is a child who has been orphaned and has lived in an orphanage in Datong SWI, Shanxi province. Her initial listed special need was for a minor facial cleft, which is easily repaired. She had also been given a very serious diagnosis of mental retardation and cerebral hemiplegia, which seriously affected the number of families willing to take a leap of faith and bring her home. This post is the begining of her adoption story and journey into my family.

Sera's name is a derivative of my grandmother Sarah's name, but also means "to become" in French. She can and will become whatever the Lord deems possible. She is now living in the IAAP foster care center in Changchun, Jillin province, The People's Republic of China.

I found out about Sera about 6 months after coming home with my son, Andy, and was not even considering bringing home another child. Andy's surgeries to repair his urinary tract, on top of repaying the loan I took to bring him home were all I could financially handle. I am a special education teacher and a single parent of two wonderful children.

A friend asked me to go look at this sweetheart on a website of waiting children, and wanted advice about Sera's possible delays if she should apply to adopt her. Sera was listed as having developmental delays and not able to walk, at that point, at 2 yrs of age. When I discovered how many lists she had already been on and that she had already had a few families commit to her and back out on her, she stole my heart. I told my friend that I really felt that she was probably delayed primarily due to the neglect she would have received due to her facial deformity. I couldn't guarantee it, but that was what I felt in my heart and from what I had seen and experienced when adopting Andy. I also knew that she could be severely delayed for any number of other reasons. I knew it would take a leap of faith for anyone to commit to adopt her, as it does when adopting any child whose information listed in a short file may or my not be correct. I kept watching her on the list and discovered that my friend was not brave enough to take that leap of faith.

Then I discovered that when her file was updated to get more current information, she had a new diagnosis of mental retardation and cerebral hemiplegia. I knew in my heart that it wasn't true. I spoke with Cheryl at IAAP ( the adoption agency who had Sera's file), and before I knew it, I had committed to try to bring her home and give her a chance at life. Both Cheryl and I knew that her chances at finding an adoptive family with that diagnosis were very slim....

In my heart I was afraid to love her too much, because I was really was sure that China would NOT give me approval to adopt her since I was single and had just brought a child home. By my sending in a letter of intent to adopt her, her file stayed with IAAP and they were able to move her to their foster care center and give her more of the attention needed to help her overcome her delays. I also knew that if I held her file up, and if China said no to me, it would give Sera time to do some catching up in the foster home and possibly attract another IAAP family. It would keep her from being sent back to the orphanage and left in neglect due to her deformity and idea that she was "deficient". I knew if she did that, she would most likely continue to shut down further emotionally and die. If all I could do was hold up her paper work long enough to give her that chance, I knew that it was the right thing to do!

Much to my surprise, China gave me their prior approval ! I really didn't think they would since their new rules were prohibitive of singles adopting. My approval came just before the cut off date for no longer accepting singles!! I knew that I loved her by this point and was very thrilled!!

EVEN better news shortly followed.. SERA IS WALKING!! Rather than just sitting and staring blankly and shutting down from the world, she is now watching everything going on, kissing her nannies, trying to talk, learning to play with toys an making huge gains!!!! The attention the foster home is giving her is helping her catch up! Things are now working out for Sera and it was obvious that she really did have much more potential than she had been labeled with!!

Unfortunatley I knew that even though the agency had waived their fees and there was a grant going towards the needed China donations, my financial situation was not the best to even shell out the needed $8, 000 to finish her adoption. I knew that I would also have to take deduction time from work to go get her since I am not physically ill, nor is she. My teacher's contract is very clear that it can be taken as family leave, but must be unpaid family leave. I was very lucky to be able to travel to get my son in the summer, when I was not under contract to be teaching.

Needless to say, I have had many sleepless nights worrying, but I know that if it is meant to be, it will work out and the Lord will find a way to make it happen for her. So right now, I am doing some serious penny pinching and fundraising to figure out how to bring her home now!!


Thank you for taking the time to read about this sweet little girl, who has the opportunity to now become so much more!


email address: medawinks@cox.net