Post by mllemass on Aug 5, 2021 21:29:06 GMT
When my cousin and her husband went to Romania (around 1990) to adopt their three children, they had been married for 15 years and were not able to have children of their own. They were well-off, lived in a gorgeous gigantic house and travelled all over the world. The reason they went to Romania was because there was a desperate need for homes for all the children in orphanages there. We all thought they were just on one of their exotic summer vacations, but instead they came home with the news of three new children. They hadn’t told anyone about it until it was done.
The oldest, a boy, was 18 months old. He had been badly neglected and wasn’t able to walk yet, or even crawl, because he was rarely taken out of his crib. The next child was a girl who was born while my cousin and her husband were in Romania. They were able to meet the birth mother and her boyfriend, and chose the girl because the mother resembled my cousin and the rest of her family. And yes, the now grown-up girl really does look like my cousin’s side of the family! The third child, another girl, was born a week later. There was some mystery surrounding her birth parents so they were not able to meet them or even learn their names. My cousin suspects that the parents were probably wealthy and paid to keep their identities a secret. But they chose the girl because she looked a lot like the boy - blond curly hair and green eyes. And even as grown-ups, they look like brother and sister. The boy already had a name, which of course they kept. But they were able to choose names for the girls.
It wasn’t until a few months later that they could return to Romania and come home with their new family. By the way, the reason I know so many details is because news of the whole adoption made the local newspaper and tv news. Beginning with their first Christmas here, the news crew went to their house and filmed a segment with them for the evening news. They returned each Christmas for an update, each time with the reporter holding one of the children in his arms. The fifth year was the last time they updated the story, and the reporter interviewed the children, too. At one point, the three kids stood up and sang O Canada for the camera. Their story inspired a lot of families to adopt from Romania, including my cousin’s younger brother and his wife, who also weren’t able to have children of their own. They had decided to go to Romania so that their children had a connection to their cousins who also came from there. They, too, were interviewed by the local paper about the adoption, but there was no tv coverage this time. Ha! Their boy and girl had both just turned two years old. The girl was the most outgoing and popular child in the orphanage and was given lots of attention by the workers there. The boy, on the other hand, had one of his legs in a cast and was confined to his crib. He hadn’t learned how to walk yet. They never did get anyone to explain how the boy’s leg had broken. (He healed fine, learned to walk, and is now a big, tall man going through police training)
The oldest, a boy, was 18 months old. He had been badly neglected and wasn’t able to walk yet, or even crawl, because he was rarely taken out of his crib. The next child was a girl who was born while my cousin and her husband were in Romania. They were able to meet the birth mother and her boyfriend, and chose the girl because the mother resembled my cousin and the rest of her family. And yes, the now grown-up girl really does look like my cousin’s side of the family! The third child, another girl, was born a week later. There was some mystery surrounding her birth parents so they were not able to meet them or even learn their names. My cousin suspects that the parents were probably wealthy and paid to keep their identities a secret. But they chose the girl because she looked a lot like the boy - blond curly hair and green eyes. And even as grown-ups, they look like brother and sister. The boy already had a name, which of course they kept. But they were able to choose names for the girls.
It wasn’t until a few months later that they could return to Romania and come home with their new family. By the way, the reason I know so many details is because news of the whole adoption made the local newspaper and tv news. Beginning with their first Christmas here, the news crew went to their house and filmed a segment with them for the evening news. They returned each Christmas for an update, each time with the reporter holding one of the children in his arms. The fifth year was the last time they updated the story, and the reporter interviewed the children, too. At one point, the three kids stood up and sang O Canada for the camera. Their story inspired a lot of families to adopt from Romania, including my cousin’s younger brother and his wife, who also weren’t able to have children of their own. They had decided to go to Romania so that their children had a connection to their cousins who also came from there. They, too, were interviewed by the local paper about the adoption, but there was no tv coverage this time. Ha! Their boy and girl had both just turned two years old. The girl was the most outgoing and popular child in the orphanage and was given lots of attention by the workers there. The boy, on the other hand, had one of his legs in a cast and was confined to his crib. He hadn’t learned how to walk yet. They never did get anyone to explain how the boy’s leg had broken. (He healed fine, learned to walk, and is now a big, tall man going through police training)