When a family needs a child
By Michael Johnson, Editor
Russian President Vladimir Putin admits that conditions for orphans in Russia may not be the best. But he’s not convinced that allowing U.S. families to adopt those children is a better fate. Rebecca and David Manahan applied for adoption through an agency called Children’s Hope International based out of St. Louis in Sept. 2011. For whatever reason, Russia seemed to be the best choice for them to find their next family member and a little brother or sister for their son Isaac. Their road to adoption would not be an easy one. Though a mountain of paperwork, court hearings, visits to the US State Dept. and numerous trips to Russia stood in the way, the couple pushed on, knowing that they would find a child that they needed and a child that needed them. “I cannot begin to explain the amount of paperwork and background checks and various other check points we had to go through from the beginning to the end of this process,” Rebecca said. “It seemed each government agency required something just slightly different. We became quite familiar with the fingerprint process at the State Patrol office and we were on a first name basis with the notary at the bank!”
