By Mary Frances McCarthy
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 5/6/04)

For Jim Hale, adoption was initially a "consolation," a solution to raising a family that he and his wife, Dana, could not conceive. But "from the moment we saw our son we have been grateful for our infertility," Jim said. "It has been a blessing."

Jim and Dana adopted their son, Christian Peter, from Russia through Catholic Social Services (CSS) of the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C. After deciding that they did not want to market themselves and their lives to prospective birth mothers in the United States, the Hales knew adopting a child from overseas was their best option. They learned of CSS and its international adoption program by word of mouth while working with a local international adoption agency.

They have not for a minute regretted their decision to work with CSS.

"Catholic Social Services, at least in Russia, has an outstanding program," Jim said at an informational meeting held last week at Catholic Charities in Burke. "These are women on a mission," he said of the CSS employees. "They feel like what they are doing is a ministry."

While Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Arlington is a licensed adoption agency that handles domestic adoptions, they can only provide social services — home studies and pre- and post-adoption services — for interstate or international adoptions.

CSS of Charlotte has been a licensed adoption agency since 1948 and developed its international program in 1993. Since then, more than 400 children from Russia and China have been placed with American families. Last year, 55 Russian children were placed in 50 American families; and 15 Chinese children were adopted. CSS of Charlotte runs the only Catholic program in the United States with direct adoption services in Russia and China.

Christian was seven months old when he was abandoned on a doorstep. He was 13 months old when the Hales took him home.

The adoption process required the Hales to make two trips to Russia to meet Christian and agree to adopt him, and then to finalize the paperwork in court prior to taking him home as their son.

"I never for a minute think that there is another mother out there," Dana said. For her, the adoption of her son has been "life changing." And even though her life with Christian has had its ups and downs, days where he runs to Mommy when she gets home from work and times when he demands Daddy when he wakes up at night, she said, "Just the thought of him makes my heart leap." The Hales plan to adopt again using CSS of Charlotte.

CSS only approves multiple adoptions to keep siblings together. They feel that to place multiple unrelated children would be unfair to both the children and the parents, as it would decrease the amount of attention a newly adopted child would receive. But they are always looking for families willing to adopt siblings. Because many families want to adopt infants and toddlers, sibling groups are often overlooked. For this, and many other reasons, CSS also provides humanitarian aid to orphanages and foster homes to help the children who are not adopted.

As a result of the one-child policy in China, many Chinese parents want a son to take care of them when they are older so most children up for adoption there are girls. CSS recently placed their first boy out of China.

Conversely, for parents adopting children from Russia, it is much easier to adopt a boy than a girl. Russians adopting children are looking for girls, and, according to CSS, most American families they work with also want girls, so there are many more boys needing homes. Because of this, it is much easier to find a healthy Russian boy than a healthy Russian girl.

Before they are adopted, all the children are tested for hepatitis, syphilis, tuberculosis and HIV. The Hales received a lot of information from Dr. Patrick Mason of the INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children International Adoption Center to learn what signs to look for to make sure their son was healthy.

Parrin and Ken Gallen, parishioners at St. Mary Parish in Alexandria, have also been taking classes about adoption through INOVA’s program. They started the process of adopting last year, and after talking to references, including the Hales, they decided to let CSS lead the way to their first child. "One conversation with them and we were sold," Parrin said. "Now it’s up to fate." The Gallens sent their dossier last month and now are just waiting for the paperwork to be processed before they meet their child for the first time.

The Gallens decided to adopt internationally because of the fear of a birth mother or father coming back for their child through a domestic adoption. The risks of an international adoption are more acceptable to them. "We don’t want to go through (the adoption process) and not have a family," Ken said.

"(CSS has) been very helpful at helping get the paperwork done," Ken said. "It’s great knowing someone’s going to hold your hand as much as possible."

After last week’s information session, Jim Hale said he could see himself and his wife in the people there, asking the same questions they had. He said he wanted to assure them that everything would turn out great and they came to the right place.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington will hold informational sessions on domestic, international, interstate and parental (parent to parent) placement adoption programs with an emphasis on home study, placement and supervision of children, at 5294 Lyngate Ct. in Burke on May 15 from 6-8 p.m. and June 17 from 3-5 p.m. For more information and to register call 703/425-0100.

For more information on the Catholic Social Services International Adoption Program in Asheville contact Carol Meyerriecks or Michele Sheppard at cssadopt@charlottediocese.org or 1-888-990-4199.

For more information on international adoption and health issues contact the INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children International Adoption Center 703/970-2651 or go to www.inova.org/inovapublic.srt/ifhc/adoption/index.jsp.