In 2008, the Alexanders made three trips to Russia. “It’s completely changed our lives in every way.” Many of the parents did not want their names to be published, in part because they say they worry about stigmatizing their families.Īmanda Alexander, 34, decided to speak publicly. They described how their children molested siblings, tried to crash their cars, pulled knives on them, killed or tortured animals, or took weapons to school. Reuters interviewed about two dozen families with troubled children adopted abroad. “It’s not something that we would ever do,” Amanda Alexander says.īut for parents who hold onto a troubled international adoptee, the way ahead can be grueling. The Alexanders say giving their daughter to a stranger they met online would have been unthinkable. Since the late 1990s, Americans have adopted about 243,000 children from other countries, but no authority tracks what happens after those children arrive in the United States. In response to the news agency’s findings, state and federal lawmakers are seeking measures aimed at stopping re-homing, and Russia and other nations are calling on the United States to account for what has become of international adoptees. In September, a Reuters investigation revealed how some desperate parents have turned to Internet groups to seek new homes for children they regret adopting. The practice is called “re-homing,” and the online bulletin boards enable parents to advertise children and arrange custody transfers that bypass government oversight. The Alexanders travelled from Seattle to Virginia to meet specialists, amassed enormous medical bills and moved to a different state to get better care for her. Amanda Alexander left a job in management to devote time to her daughter. Their adoption agencies often won’t help.

Many parents are unprepared to handle the problems. With high hopes and often at great expense, families have adopted needy boys and girls from orphanages overseas, only to realize after returning to America that the children have behavioral or psychiatric problems that hadn’t been diagnosed or disclosed. Their situation reflects a quandary faced by adoptive parents across the United States. But they found there is little assistance available for parents of international adoptees, particularly when children have severe trauma and emotional problems. The Alexanders sought help from schools, social workers and other parents. In the last three years, she has been hospitalized nine times for psychiatric care. Now 7 years old, Alexander says, the girl has attacked her mother and classmates and tried to cut out her tongue with scissors. Re-homed girl spent months harboring dark secret The Christian Alliance for Orphanscalls them “social orphans,” noting that during the time children are in foster care they are without the support, protection, and provision of their biological parents. While much attention has been given to the work of international adoption and setting up in-country orphan care overseas, we also have approximately 400,000 children in foster care in this country. If you think you’re too young, too single, too inexperienced to do anything, I’m here to say: you can help right away. Single Christians, even those who feel the issue of orphan care weighing heavy on their hearts, may resign to wait until they’re ready to start a family before they can live out this biblical call. Often, though, we associate orphan care with married Christians who can adopt children, who can welcome foster kids into their home, and who can afford to send hefty donations. Faith-based organizations, church leaders, and Christian families across the country have propelled the orphan-care movement in the past decade, inspired by the repeated biblical command to “father the fatherless,” to take care of children who need our help.

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