Your share could raise $30
Before you go, did you know that simply by sharing this campaign, you could help it raise $30? It's an effective way to support the cause.
No thanks- Pin it
- SubscribeUnsubscribe
- Embed
Robin Crissey hasn't added a story.
I'm an American school teacher with a Thai husband and 2 biological
daughters. We're an adventurous family who have lived all over, and
we'd long wanted both the chance to live in Africa and another child
(hopefully a boy). After much trying I thought an African teaching job
may never be offered and meanwhile we tried to conceive a boy and had
a couple early miscarriages. Then one day we were happy to learn I'd
been offered a job teaching in Uganda! So we also started looking into
adoption at this time. To our happy surprise we found out that if you
lived in Uganda (unlike the "International Adoption Agency"
websites would have you believe) privately adopting would be an
affordable thing to do, even for us. It was only much later that we
realized because the entire process is complicated, ever-changing,
& relatively new there is not much info out there on it...which
meant that what we knew about the costs were only the bare bones, NOT
including all the extras (which added up to hundreds and thousands of
dollars). Anyway, once in Uganda we blindly jumped in and started
pursuing fostering a totally orphaned 2-year-old boy. He was extremely
timid and inactive the first few times we met him. Nine months later
he was living with us and we came to find out he had malaria,
kwashiorkor (protein-deficiency bloated belly), jiggers living in his
toes, no immunizations, brown teeth with bleeding gums, and a major
infestation of intestinal worms. We treated him medically, enrolled
him in school, bought him needed things like food, clothes and toys,
and of course gave him lots of love. He has since blossomed into a
very healthy, active, smart, curious, talented, happy, playful, loving
little boy!
Initially we'd learned that by privately adopting (not using an
agency) in Uganda, we could foster for 3 years, then apply for
adoption through the Ugandan courts and be done, all for very little
money. We thought, “3 years in Uganda will be no problem.” But then
after living in Uganda for almost a year and not even
"officially" fostering yet - we didn't go to court until 3
months after taking him in, which was an entire YEAR since starting
the process of finding him - we realized that in Uganda things
(especially bureaucratic/legal/government types of things) move
EXTREMELY slowly. And also considering that the timing of when we
could move would also have to work around my school-year schedule, we
realized that realistically "3 years" in Uganda would more
likely be like 5 or even 6 years. Furthermore we were already
accumulating debt (even by that short time in the country) which is
even much bigger now, and this is despite the fact that we came here
with savings and we live as frugally as we can. (The cost of living
here is surprisingly even higher than in the states, yet I took a huge
pay cut to come here - but the full realization of this didn't really
hit us for until about 6 months of living here.) But despite this, we
of course couldn’t conceive of just giving Hanuman (our Thai nickname
for George) back to the orphanage, but there was another route to
adoption that was much quicker, but costed a lot more up front (but it
still costs very little compared to the tens of thousands needed for
an adoption completely organized through an "International
Adoption Agency"). So we got thinking that maybe we should
rethink our plan because this “cheap” route we had chosen to adoption
would probably end up being the more expensive one in the long-run,
being how quickly we were getting into debt. And it turned out it was
a VERY good thing I started looking into this when I did because we
discovered that a new US law will be passed this summer outlawing all
privately done adoptions, meaning there would be ABSOLUTELY no
possible way for us to afford adoption after that! So we realized we
had no choice but to go this quicker, but spendier route to adoption.
It required us to get past 3 major & spendy hurtles - a homestudy
done by a US adoption agency (yes, we had to fly them here), getting
approval as parents by the US government, and going to the Ugandan
High Court and getting granted Legal Guardianship (official
"adoption" can be done rather simply in the US afterwards).
All of these hurdles were VERY costly, and thanks to your help we made
it to this point!
So, here we are - we have FINALLY passed the last hurdle and
have gone to court (at times we felt we'd NEVER see the day when that
actually happened!!!) and have now been made Hanuman's official Lega
Guardians, approved to migrate to the US with him!! So we are on the
home stretch now!! We just need to get the approval papers, get
Hanuman a Ugandan passport, & then a US visa! Now this is why we
need your help this one last time - we've quite seriously run my mom
dry with all the help she's given us with this whole process! If it
wasn't for her, we probably would have had to seriously give Hanuman
back to the orphanage, even after bonding with him as our son! But
recently we've had to pay our adoption lawyer big BIG bucks (still not
done paying), and about 5 times already -for legal purposes- we've had
to pay for 5 of Hanuman's relatives to be transported in from their
village & hosted at our home during their stay & transported
back out. Also we just realized our daughters' student visas have to
be renewed ($200+), we've recently had major car troubles that needed
immediate repair ($300+), I'm reinstating my Oregon teaching license
($200+), and the upcoming US visa will be several hundred dollars.
We've even had to delay re-enrolling Hanuman in a local Ugandan school
for his 3rd term because we just can't afford it AND...we need to buy
plane tickets to get us all home soon!! We're moving back to the
states as soon as school lets out in June, where at least we can
afford to take care of ourselves. If you can spare even $20-50 it'll
get us that much closer to getting home - THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR
WHATEVER HELP YOU CAN OFFER!!!
Highlights
See all activity13Activity
Help us to the Finish Line - Getting Our Son Home! Community
Our community shows our leading supporters and the contributions they've made or inspired by sharing our campaign.
How it works
To appear in our community, simply make a contribution to our campaign
and show your name, or inspire a contribution from someone else by sharing your personal link (below).
The more contributions you make or inspire, the higher you'll go and the more the campaign will benefit.
How it works
To appear in our community, simply make a contribution to our campaign
and show your name, or inspire a contribution from someone else by sharing your personal link (below).
The more contributions you make or inspire, the higher you'll go and the more the campaign will benefit.
Here's your personal link to share:
CopyDelete media item?
Delete this item from the media gallery? It will also be deleted from any related story update.
Set as ?
The campaign video will appear in social media and email.
The campaign cover picture will appear in social media and email.
The will appear at the top of your campaign page and in social media and email.
Reset ?
It will be removed from the top of your campaign and won't be used as default in social media and email. The will remain in the media gallery.
Embed
Share a link
Delete update
Delete this story update?
Any pictures or videos will remain in the campaign's media gallery.
Report campaign
Report submitted
Thank you. We take reports like yours very seriously. Our goal is to keep the community safe.
Please know that we may contact you for more information, but that we won't notify you personally of our decision. If the campaign remains available within a few days, it's likely that we determined it not to be in violation of our policies.
Thank you. We've already received your previous report. If the campaign remains available within a few days, it's likely that we determined it not to be in violation of our policies.
Tell us about the problem. Please fill in both fields below.
Record a video
Upload a video
Nothing grabs attention for your cause like a personal video. Take a minute or two to record one now. Record a short video message of support. Or upload one from your device. You can preview or redo your video before you post it.
Nothing grabs attention for your cause like a personal video. Upload a short video message of support. Upload a short video message of support. Or record one right now.
- Most effective video length: about a minute.
- Maximum length: 5 min.
- You can preview or redo your video before you post it.
Heads up! The existing video will be replaced.
Email your friends
Join our team
Tell people why our cause matters to you. Your personal message will encourage others to help. Easy, effective, optional.
Say it in video
Short personal videos by supporters like you are incredibly powerful. Record one right now and you'll help us raise more money. Easy, optional, effective.
Add a personal goal
Set a personal fundraising goal. You'll encourage more contributions if you do. And rest easy. There's no obligation to achieve your goal or bad consequences if you don't. Easy, optional, effective.
We have a video!
Video thumbnail
We'd love to show you our campaign video. Want to take a look?
, you're already on the team.