Goal of trip is to get visitors adopted By Jake Finch, Correspondent
July 21, 2005
The Rector household has taken on an international flavor in the past few weeks as the four family members readied themselves for the arrival of a Russian orphan.
Morgan Rector, the Westlake Village father of two, began studying Russian in order to speak to 5-year-old Anastasia, who landed on the Rectors' doorstep almost two weeks ago.
"It's a whole lot of work to learn enough of the basics," said Rector, 43. "I think they want them to come here and learn a lot of English. But if I was a kid going to Russia, I'd want to hear just a little bit of conversation in the language you're comfortable in. That's all I was after, to learn a little bit of the language to make her feel better."
The blond-haired girl, who, the Rectors said, has settled in perfectly with their family, came to the United States as part of the annual Summer Miracles program sponsored by Washington, D.C.-based Kidsave International.
Now in its seventh year, the six-week program matches orphans from Russia, Colombia and Kazakhstan with host families stateside. These families are either looking to adopt the kids or are hosting the children so other potential adoptive families can meet them at one of the twice-weekly Kidsave summer get-togethers.
After seven years, the program has permanently placed more than 1,100 of its visiting children with American families. That's a more than 90 percent success rate, said Mairita Smiltars, executive director of Kidsave.
About 170 foreign-born orphans will visit this summer. Twenty-five host families from the Southern California area will take in children. In Ventura County, two families are hosting four children between them. And a picnic for the children was held last week in Simi Valley at Grace Brethren Church.
The children will all have to go back to their home countries at the end of the summer, but most will return within the year to be adopted by either their host family or another family who met them through the host family or Kidsave events.
Carolyn Rector, 42, said she and her husband are listed as an advocate family -- one that hosts only -- but have kept an open mind on adopting.
Smiltars said about a third of her advocate families decide to adopt after spending the summer with their kids.
"I think there are a lot of people who maybe are hesitant to commit before they meet the child," Smiltars said.
It works the other way as well, she said, and some families who intended to adopt choose not to. Usually, children in those situations are picked by other families and sometimes may even be brought back the following year to spend another summer with a Kidsave family.
The important thing is to make a good match between the family and the child.
"We don't want it to be a high pressure kind of summer," Smiltars said. "We want things to unfold as they do. We ask them to check in with us to let us know their feelings because we get other people who meet the kids and want to move forward."
Kidsave is not an adoption agency. If a family decides to adopt a Kidsave child, an agency will step in to negotiate the process with them.
What Kidsave does is to pair older children, those typically harder to place, with interested American families, while giving the orphans a taste of American life.
Through contributions, Kidsave pays for half the cost of bringing the orphans into the states, about $3,000 for medical clearances, visas, air fare and other expenses. The hosting communities, a total of 12 this summer spanning the country, will hold fund-raising events to earn the other $3,000. Host families are responsible for living expenses while the children are with them, which could include clothing and day camp fees.
This is the first year the Utermohlen family in Newbury Park is participating in Kidsave. Sirkku Utermohlen, a special education teacher for Ventura County, has three children of her own and is hosting three other children from Columbia.
Stefania, 10, and her brother Jhon Jairo, 9 came from one orphanage and Clara Ivon, 9, is from another.
Utermohlen first learned about Kidsave from an article in The Star three years ago. "I looked at it and looked at it and cut it out, and it seemed like the right time. We were ready, financially and emotionally," she said.
It didn't take long for Utermohlen to fall in love with the kids and with the idea of adoption, though these children are probably already spoken for by other families. She said her family will definitely participate in the program again next year.
For more information
Families interested in the Kidsave adoption program can look up public events on the organization's Web site, http://www.kidsave.org. For more information, call Kidsave at 1-310-559-7995.
-- Jake Finch's e-mail address is alljake@hotmail.com |
