MLJ Adoptions is celebrating with another adoptive family who has completed their adoption process and brought home a child from Burkina Faso! What a wonderful way to begin 2018! The arrival home of this child is MLJ’s second adopted child to complete the adoption process in Burkina Faso and to arrive home in the United States to his forever family. Big congratulations go out to this family as they transition to a new life with an added family member. This family waited twelve months to be matched with a child and fifteen months after acceptance of referral to travel to bring their child home.
MLJ’s Burkina Faso adoption program opened in 2014 and we can happily report the program has beat our expectations. To date, this program has resulted in several accomplishments including: two children who have joined their forever families and four additional families matched and these children are anticipated to join their forever families in 2018.
Anticipated timelines from dossier submission to referral for the Burkina Faso program have also exceeded our expectations with families currently matched having waited between one month to twelve months to be matched with a child. Timelines for matching are dependent upon characteristics of the child that a family hopes to adopt. Children matched with families in this program range in ages from under 2 years old to 14 years old. The children that have been matched have been considered “healthy”, while others are considered or have additional medical needs.
Burkina Faso is dedicated to finding homes for their vulnerable children. A list of children with special needs is issued three to four times a year. Families with registered dossiers may submit a letter of interest for a specific child on the list. Special needs of children on these lists are wide ranging from no medical need/child listed due to their age to correctable or slight medical needs to more severe medical needs. Many of MLJ’s prospective adoptive families in the Burkina Faso program have opted to pursue the adoption of a child from the special needs lists.
As we celebrate with this second family, we are excited for the joy their son will bring his adoptive family! While adoptive families may not change the world through one adoption, they change the world for one child.
If you are hoping to adopt from Africa, consider MLJ’s Burkina Faso adoption program.