Raising a Family in Phnom Penh

"So... now that you are starting a family are you still planning on moving back to Cambodia?"

While I'm not sure people have asked this question quite as bluntly, it does seem to be a question people wonder about... Is it safe to raise a family in Cambodia? Will your child be able to go to school? Will your children have friends to play with? Is Cambodia a good place to raise a family?

The answer to these questions... at least in the context of our situation... are yes, yes and yes! In fact, we are excited about the prospect of raising our family in a country so close to our hearts. Yes, Cambodia is a developing nation. Yes, we will face challenges that may not be the case in the U.S. or Brazil. However, the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh is actually a fine place to raise a family as long as you are willing to be creative and flexible. After all, there are both benefits and challenges to living practically anywhere.

Known at one time as the "Pearl of Asia" Phnom Penh is a beautiful and charming city. Though it is perhaps crowded, dusty, plagued with many social problems, and still recovering from previous times of war, it remains home to lots of beautiful monuments, exquisite colonial french architecture, artistic studios, and quiet cafes where expats and Cambodians alike enjoy spending their afternoons with a book, a latte and a friend or two. (Photo above: The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh)

The Cambodian government welcomes humanitarian, religious and intergovernmental organizations from around the world, not to mention international businesses, allowing for a tremendously diverse community of foreigners/expats coming from countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, most of whom reside in Phnom Penh. Because of this growing community, there are several options when it comes to educating one's children and connecting them with children of a similar age and background. In Phnom Penh alone, there are at least four international schools, all of which base their primary and secondary school curriculums on standards from nations such as the US or the UK. The school we have our eye on is Hope International School, based on the UK national curriculum, preschool up to high school, with an enrollment over 250 expat children. (Photo Courtesy of Hope School).

We are proud to be working for an organization that highly values family. Because each of our jobs in Cambodia will be somewhat flexible, we are excited about the opportunity to take an active role in our child's upbringing without a heavy dependency on outside child care. We are not sure this would be the case if living and working within the United States. We are equally excited to raise our child in an environment that, although crowded and busy, is also slow and laid back. Our child will have the opportunity to learn and grow in the midst of a very multicultural and diverse community, while still maintaining a strong identity in their roots as we travel to visit extended family in Brazil and the USA.

One more FAQ + Adoption Stories in the Bible

An additional question we've been "frequently asked" lately is regarding fertility...

Are you adopting because of infertility? As far as we know, we do not have any medical infertility issues. For us, adoption is something we've wanted to do for several years in order to grow our family. We understand some couples choose to adopt after facing infertility, and that's great, just not our situation.

We didn't choose adoption because we are "heroes" or because it "saves" children. We are adopting because we are ready to start a family, and adoption provides an opportunity for children to grow up in a stable and loving home when their birthparents are not able to care for them. It is our belief that adoption is the heart of God, and it is also our heart. Is adoption for everyone? Probably not. Is it for us? We believe so!

We recently finished reading a book called "The Adoption Decision" by Laura Christianson. As we read, we were surprised at the number of adoption stories Christianson pointed to in the Bible - stories many of us have heard about for years, but perhaps have overlooked the "adoption" part:

• Esther was adopted by her older cousin, Mordecai
• Moses was adopted by the Pharoah's daughter, Jochebed
• David informally adopts Jonathan's special needs son, Mephibosheth
  
• Joseph was an adoptive father to Jesus
• Christ offers to adopt all of us as His children
  

Thanks so much for your prayers & support.

Welcome!

That's right... We're adopting... and we're super excited! There is a long journey ahead of us - most likely with lots of challenges along the way - but we are excited about what the Lord is going to do throughout the process.

Our intention for this blog is to: 1) provide a way for family & friends to keep up with the adoption process; 2) to keep us occupied once we start "waiting" to be matched; and 3) to have some real "in the moment" commentary that we and our child can look back on in the future (we just found out that blogs can even be published into books once they're finished up!).

To start out, we thought we'd answer some frequently asked questions about our plans:

• Domestic or International? We will be adopting a baby from within the United States, making this a "domestic adoption".
  
• What organization or agency are you using? After a great deal of research and asking around, we've chosen to pursue adoption through Pact, An Adoption Alliance in Oakland. In partnership with Pact, Adopt International will conduct our home study.
• How old? Our child will most likely be a newborn and we will probably get to bring the child home from the hospital!
  
• What about gender and race? We have chosen to adopt a child of any gender, and any race. Pact specifically focuses on placing infants of color, so we will most likely be placed with a child from a race different than our own. Pact is GREAT at helping adoptive parents address issues pertaining to raising a child with a different racial, cultural and/or ethnic heritage.
• Open or closed? We have chosen to pursue an open adoption. This means: 1) Our child's birthparents will select us; 2) We will likely either speak with or meet the birthparents before the child is born; 3) We will exchange personal information with our child's birthparents; and 4) We will maintain relationship with them throughout our child's life, and encourage our child to learn about their biological roots. Research demonstrates open adoption is often the most beneficial for everyone involved in an adoption, especially the child.
  
• How long will it take? This is a difficult question to answer since we will be chosen by our child's birthparents, and we don't know when that will happen. However, Pact usually places within 6 to 12 months.
• Isn't adoption expensive? It can be! Thankfully, Pact allows us to put a "limit" on how much we are willing to spend, and we will only be presented to situations that cater to our spending preferences. Adoption costs within the United States can vary from anything from $1,500 (usually fost-adopt) to $50,000! One very important piece of the puzzle is that adoptive parents can claim up to $13,000 in tax credits during the year the adoption is finalized. Because of this tax credit, we are able to adopt. The adoption we are pursuing will most likely cost between $10,000 and $16,000 - leaving only a couple thousand after the credit. (Of course, pray this ends up on the lower end!)
  
• Where are we in the process as of today? We have officially become clients of Pact, and are currently finishing up paperwork to send to our home study agency. Since we are off to visit Cambodia on Nov. 1 for three weeks, we hope to get all of our paperwork in before we leave and then schedule our first home visits for when we return.
  

Hopefully this answers some of your questions.
We certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers throughout the process!