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My Trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
By Julia Holtgrewe

This is such an exciting time for Wasatch Adoptions.  I just returned home from the Democratic Republic and it was an absolutely amazing trip.  It is very important for the agency to establish a good working relationship with the people of this country and while in Kinshasa I visited several orphanages and saw many beautiful children.  The children living in the DRC are displaced due to loss of parents, often times because of war, but always because of circumstances beyond their control.  The first thing I noticed was the happiness of the children.  The orphanages we established connections with take very good care of the children and the children are loved and are fed at least one time each day – something that isn’t common for children without families to take care of them.  Food centers established in the DRC that take care of street children only serve 3 meals a week, so the children living in the orphanages are the lucky ones.

The Congolese government has little restrictions as to the children available for adoption.  However, we have made the commitment to help children who have no parents or at least no mother to take care of them.  In the DRC it is customary for the women to take care of the child, so if the mother passes away the father is not required to provide for the child.  Some children have grandparents, aunts or uncles but this extended family cannot take care of the child.  And, some children have been accused of witchcraft and have been tossed out of their homes. 

While I was in Kinshasa I visited seven orphanages.  Out of those seven orphanages I chose only three of orphanages to work with.  Some of the things I looked for in these orphanages were does the orphanage really take care of the children living there, and if a child is too old to be adopted does the orphanage help them access programs that will train the child so that he or she has an employable skill when they leave the orphanage.  One of the things Wasatch Adoptions will do is donate $1,000 of the foreign fee to the orphanage the child being adopted lives in so the children left behind can be helped. 

While there I made many friends and, as always, the people are wonderful.  I was treated to many Congolese meals that were scrumptious.  The Director of General Migration was gracious and we were able to have a wonderful discussion on what his expectations for this program.  He wants nothing but good things for these children and I enjoyed my visit with him tremendously.  Also, another positive thing is that the US Embassy is on board with adoptions from the DRC as long as they can see that we are operating within the laws of the DRC and the US system.  Money paid to others outside the adoption process is frowned upon and something we do not do – our program is very transparent and adoptive families will always know where their money is going.  We work with a wonderful attorney who is very responsive to our questions, and he has been highly recommended by the US Embassy in Kinshasa.  I am also very excited to be able to work with a wonderful Catholic orphanage that has babies available for adoption.  This orphanage does, however, prefer to place these children with active Catholic or active Christian families and do want adoptive families to be childless in order to work with them. 

The one world of caution about adopting from the Congo is that communication with this region can sometimes be difficult.  Very few people have internet access, but instead must go to an internet café to pick up emails.   The people may visit the internet café once a week or once a day, so questions may not be answered immediately.  Anyone adopting from the DRC must be able to have patience at times, but we will get questions answered as quickly as we can.  The people in the Congo are anxious to find families for these children and love America.  They are happy when a child can be adopted by an American family because they know this child will be loved, taken care of, and will have opportunities for a good life.

If you have any questions about adopting from the Congo, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.  I love to talk about this program, this country, and the children who live there.  You can email me at Julia@wiaa.org anytime.