Adjunct Librarian Joey Merritt shared her experiences adopting two international children in a presentation she gave on Nov. 5.

Although there were only a few in attendance it was highly informative. Merrit is the adoptive parent of two young women adopted as babies from Eastern Europe. She planned early on to adopt at least one child and ended up adopting two.

She had a closed adoption, so it was done through agencies, and she never met the biological parents directly, but she did encourage her children to contact them if they wanted to. She had the idea that they could be one big happy family.

She discussed how international adoption can be a lengthy complex process at times. “It’s like a revolving door on which country you can adopt from,” she explained as she looked at countries like Colombia, Russia, and Guatemala adoption would only be open for a few weeks, and then things would change.

Merritt illustrated international adoptions as “Long vacation with permanent souvenirs.” While her children had their own struggles, she had no problem bonding with them as she thought she would.

She shared how she was not prepared for the struggles that came with international adoption like having a child suffer from a learning disability and that a child without a disability can be overlooked because of the attention needed.

Merritt wished she knew how important names were before she adopted them because looking back, she could have kept the names because they were part of where they came from.

Despite challenges like racism, she rejoiced in the rewards of adopting. “Children who get adopted aren’t lucky; it is the mother who gets lucky,” stated Merritt. Her view is that families are built and that children who are adopted can make a family whole.

Through international adoption, Merritt learned more about her children’s culture. “There is no end and no closure.” Another belief Merritt shared is that being a parent has been romanticized in today’s society and has not shown how hard parenting is.

She used the Hopscotch agency, and Koinonia Family Services were there in attendance and  to provide information if needed or interested.