Kazakhstani visitors may find
homes here
Rubina Madan - Staff
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Twenty-five orphans from
Kazakhstan landed in Atlanta this month, thinking they were going to summer
camp in the United States. But organizers of the Kidsave Atlanta Summer
Miracles Program hope the five-week visit brings them new lives with new
families in Georgia.
Though some of the children, ages
5 to 15, may suspect their trip is for more than a summer camp, there is good
reason for the secrecy.
"They're not told that
they're going to be adopted, but they're kind of putting the pieces together
because they meet kids that are adopted," said Elaine Gayle, the program's
marketing coordinator. "If the kids think someone is coming to get them
and they don't, that's really cruel."
Kidsave International has been
bringing orphans from Colombia, Russia and Kazakhstan to the United States
since 1999 through its national Summer Miracles Program. This is the third year
of the Atlanta program, which has more than doubled every year since its
inception in 2003, when five children came from Kazakhstan. All of the visiting
children in past years were adopted, a process that takes six months to a year.
Ann Shanahan, an Alpharetta
homemaker, started the program in Atlanta when she became interested in
adopting an older child. She adopted her 10-year-old son in the second year of
the program.
"It's been so big to adopt
babies," said Shanahan. "But I think there's a niche of people that
are more interested in adding to their family. A lot of times this is more an
addition to the family rather than the beginning of a family."
All of the children have gone
longer than a year without any contact with their biological families. Though
many of their parents are alive, Shanahan said their parents gave them up
because of poverty. To reduce custody disputes, the program focuses on children
with minimal contact.
So far, 18 of the 25 children have
families interested in adopting them. The others will be meeting prospective
parents over the course of the summer while they attend camp activities.
A few of the youngsters have been
difficult to place because they are older or need to stay with their siblings.
Donna Gibson, a real estate agent in Alpharetta who has two children, is
hosting 15-year-old Maria Botik and her two younger brothers.
"When you meet these children,
you'll know from your heart they came from a good place, no matter how
poverty-stricken," she said. "The hugs I get, the looks in their eyes
when you give them something. And they're always saying 'please' and 'thank
you.' "
Part of a package
This is Maria's last chance to be
adopted before she has to leave the orphanage at age 16. Many former
Kazakhstani orphans, having to fend for themselves, have fallen into lives of
poverty, drugs and prostitution.
That's one reason Gibson has been
working this summer to find a family to take all three children. "Once she
is out of the orphanage, then someone may be able to adopt just the two
boys," Gibson said. "But when you see these three together, there's
no way you'd want to break them up in any way. She tucks them in. She's like
their mother."
The oldest of eight children,
program volunteer Valerie Jackson shocked her siblings by announcing that she
was going to adopt the 16-year-old Latvian boy she hosted through a similar
program. She was single, independent and deeply dedicated to running the
family's Ann Jackson Gallery in Roswell. But her relatives were supportive when
they saw how passionate she was about her decision.
"He came, and it was like God
just said, 'You two have been waiting for each other and he's here,' '' Jackson
said. "And it just clicked. It was just totally unpredictable and
unplanned. It was just something that was meant to happen to me. I never
thought twice about it."
The Kazakhstani orphans did not
experience much culture shock when they came to the United States, Shanahan
said.
"American TV is rampant in
orphanages," she said. "They're aware of how we live in America. When
the kids come, they are not shocked. But they want to try everything. If
there's a button, they want to touch it."
The biggest challenge the
organizers faced was raising enough money to pay for the program. It costs
about $3,600 per child or escort.
The group raised $70,000 last year
at a benefit at the Falls of Autry Mill community in Alpharetta. It raised
$10,000 last week at a fund-raiser at the Ann Jackson Gallery.
Businesses chip in
Local businesses have contributed
by donating tickets and services for the children.
The Atlanta Center for Puppetry
Arts gave 75 free tickets for all of them, their families and volunteers to
attend a show July 17. Cool Hair in Roswell gave free haircuts, and the Atlanta
Center for Cosmetic Dentistry cleaned the children's teeth.
Ginger Paquin, who plans to adopt
12-year-old Anna, hosted a barbecue for the children at the grass airstrip near
her Woodstock home. The weekend programs are an important part of hosting them,
she said.
"If there is a child that for
some reason doesn't get adopted, then they have a great experience, and it
gives them hope," she said.
Paquin, who has a 13-year-old
daughter, always wanted to have another child, and the Summer Miracles program
sounded ideal to her.
"We wouldn't want a big age
gap, and we wouldn't want to adopt a baby," she said. "And the
children are all so sweet and so smart and well-disciplined and healthy."
"The goal is to end the
institutionalization of children and put everyone in a home," Gayle said.
"Kidsave International's motto is 'Every child deserves a family.' "
All the children will return to
Kazakhstan on Aug. 17. Organizers hope they will fly back to Atlanta soon, no
longer as orphans but as adopted sons and daughters.