The adoption connection
CRANBERRYTWP — Considering his dark hair and eyes and his olive skin, the newest member of the fair-featured Lecorchick family endures more than the usual new baby inspection.
Even his name — Santiago — raises eyebrows among admirers.
"People ask if he's ours, and we say yes, because he is ours," said Jennifer Lecorchick, Santiago's mother.
The child had no trouble fitting in Saturday at the fifth annual northeast regional picnic hosted by Commonwealth Adoptions International Inc.
About 200 people from as far as Washington, D.C., Virginia and Michigan feasted on hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and other traditional picnic fare at Cranberry Community Park. Children adopted from China, Columbia, Russia and India ran around together playing games, doing crafts and getting lost in a giant maze.
"We just decided that after we complete an adoption, we really like to consider these families part of our Commonwealth family," said Eric Rogers, director of Commonwealth Adoptions' northeast regional office in Cranberry.
"It's a time for people from all over the Northeast to get together and keep that connection with us and with each other."
Justin and Mellissa Boland of Grass Lake, Mich., spent five hours Friday traveling to the picnic. They had a special reason to attend with son Liam, 13 months, who came to them from Taiwan in December."We're in the middle of our second adoption, and we wanted to meet people making it happen,"Mellissa Boland said.Jennifer Lecorchick, 38, and her husband, Mike, 53, adopted Santiago from Guatemala in April. They have a daughter, Jenna, 4, but infertility issues prevented the Cranberry Township couple from expanding their brood through pregnancy."She has become mom number two," Jennifer Lecorchick said of Jenna and her new role as a big sister. "It's like we've never skipped a beat."International adoption typically takes a year to 18 months to complete, Rogers said. Commonwealth Adoptions has been located in Cranberry since 2001, and the company is licensed in six states."People have the idea that there are a lot of orphaned children available for adoption, which is true, but child welfare laws create an administrative bottleneck." Rogers said.In Pennsylvania, prospective adoptive parents must pass criminal and financial background checks, as well as a home study — three visits with a social worker — before they can receive a referral, Jennifer Lecorchick said."Your life becomes a complete open book ¿ and it should be. Their goal is to protect the children, as they should," she said.Then parents are placed on a waiting list to accept the referral, if and when one is offered.The Bolands were told to expect to wait four to six months through Commonwealth Adoptions, but it could be as long as a year, Mellissa Boland said. The referral for Liam finally arrived after 14 months, followed by nearly five months of waiting for acceptance and formal custody.This time, they are waiting for a little girl from Taiwan, and they expect the process to take about two years total, she said."That wait phase is really the hardest for families," Rogers said. "On the international side, the process involves a lot more paperwork and hoops to jump through than people initially think."One such hoop is financial, with costs ranging between $20,000 and $38,000, depending on the child's home country and the wait time involved, said Cheryl Parkhill, intake manager at Commonwealth. But once an adoption is final, parents are eligible for an $11,000 tax rebate, she added.Many of the 150 to 160 families Commonwealth Adoptions works with each year are successful, Type A personalities who are used to being in control, Rogers said."When you turn over that process to either a birth mother or a foreign government, you really are not in control anymore,"he said. "You have to let the process be the process."
The Lecorchicks were only on the waiting list for an hour when they received an adoption referral. Jennifer Lecorchick said the decision to accept either a boy or a girl helped."Some people had horror stories of the time involved," she said. "Some people think adoption is an easy way to expand your family, but it's not."With the referral comes a bundle of photos and, most importantly, a medical history of the child, which includes birth weight, measurements and anything else a medical examiner can supply.The Bolands received monthly updates from Taiwan with photos, copies of weekly physician reports and Liam's growth progress reports."Taiwan was extremely organized and wonderful,"Melissa Boland said. "We feel really good about doing the exact same thing again."Santiago was only 2 days old when the Lecorchicks got their referral, so the package was limited.But after five days in Guatemala, Jennifer Lecorchick said the emotional attachment between her and her son was immediate."When they placed my son in my arms, it was extremely emotional, not just for me but for the foster family having to give him up," she said. "The love you have for that adopted child is no different than a birth child."Santiago is adapting to his new family well, and the Lecorchicks said they will not eliminate their son's Guatemalan roots from his lifestyle. Beyond keeping his birth name, Jennifer Lecorchick said a South American cross and other decorations adorn his room."He is truly part of our family," she said.
