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SALT LAKE CITY — A family from Salt Lake City has spent nearly two years working on an adoption that finally became a reality Tuesday afternoon.
Whitney and Quin Stephens said they always felt they needed to adopt a special-needs baby from another country. They have three biological children of their own, ages 9, 7 and 3, and have been working on an adoption since 2012.
“In the middle of 2012, we decided our family should adopt a child with Down syndrome from Eastern Europe,” Whitney Stephens said. "When our children learned that there were children who didn't have families, stuck in orphanages without food, heat or toys, they were more than happy to sacrifice. Watching the 3-year-old bring me 60 cents to pay for the adoption has no equal."
They found a little girl with Down syndrome through a Russian adoption agency and set out to make her part of their family. At the time, Russia required three visits from prospective parents before the adoption could be finalized.
“In December of 2012, we traveled to Perm, Russia, (for the first time) to meet our daughter, Dasha,” Stephens said. “Six days after we got home, President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning all Americans from adopting in Russia.”
The Stephenses tried to adopt the baby through a Canadian family, but shortly thereafter the Russian government also denied adoptions to Canada.
“As time passed from this heartbreak, we realized that we still had a place in our family for a child with Down syndrome,” Whitney Stephens said. “So, we looked to China.”
Due to China’s one-child policy, Stephens said, many children born with Down syndrome are abandoned, some on the side of the road.
The Stephenses found a little boy they were sure they would bring home. They started the long process required for Chinese adoptions.
Again, they were met with heartbreak. Due to extenuating medical problems, the little boy they had chosen and named Cooper died suddenly in August 2013.
“Through this trial, we once again started over,” Stephens said. “We found pictures of Milo and pushed forward full steam.”
Stephens said the process to adopt a child from China was arduous. The paperwork took months to fill out and return, and red tape met them at every step.
“Sadly, it's this delay and the expense of an adoption that stands in the way of more of these children being saved,” Stephens said. “All told, between Russia and China, we've spent about $60,000. China alone has been about $30,000.
“It is, obviously, worth it, but not everybody has the ability to make this commitment,” Stephens said. “We have marvelous family and friends who have all helped defray these costs for us.”
The Stephenses traveled to China and visited the orphanage where their soon-to-be son had spent his entire life. On March 10, Whitney and Quin Stephens became the legal parents of Milo, a 16-month-old Chinese boy from Anyang City.
Stephens said the day was one of the longest, and most memorable, she will ever experience.
“This little boy is an orphan no more,” Stephens wrote on the family's blog. “He is a beloved and cherished son, brother, grandson, nephew, and cousin.”
While Stephens said she is extremely grateful for the chance she and her family have to make Milo a part of their lives, she can’t help but think of all the other children they encountered at the orphanage who are still living in dismal circumstances.
Utah family has high hopes for Russian adoption despite new bill
Many American families, including some in Utah, are anxiously waiting for a final word on their Russian adoptions.“Yesterday we visited Milo's orphanage,” Stephens said. “These children have never known love and yet know it exists. There are hundreds, even thousands of children like Milo waiting for adoption. Every child deserves a family and these children are certainly no exception.”
The number of Americans adopting children from China has been on the decline over the last 15 years, according to a 2007 New York Times article. Heavier restrictions and the cost of the adoption process are thought to be primary factors.
However, due to China’s one-child policy, and the desire to raise a male inheritor, many orphanages are full of young girls, and there are thought to be some 60 million abandoned girls currently without families in China, according to the New York Times article.
As for Milo, who weighs just 12 pounds at 16 months of age, he will need ongoing medical and developmental aid as he transitions into his new life in Utah, Stephens said. And while there will be challenges ahead, she said their family is just glad to have been given the chance to raise such a remarkable young man.
“I can't wait to watch this little man blossom,” Stephens said. “You're stuck with us forever now.”
