Our Adoption Story | Colombia international adoption.

Welcome to my KZbin channel! If you're curious about international adoption and eager to learn more about our personal adoption journey, you've come to the right place. In this video, we open up about the incredible process of international adoption, sharing the highs and lows of navigating paperwork and the anticipation of welcoming our precious son into our lives.
Join me as we dive into every aspect of this life-changing experience, from selecting the perfect adoption agency to recounting our unforgettable travels and stay in Colombia. We'll take you along on our emotional rollercoaster as we recount the heartwarming moment of meeting our son for the very first time.
Growing your family through adoption is a decision that comes with its own set of challenges and uncertainties. Our hope is that by sharing our unique story, we can provide you with a glimpse of the remarkable journey and shed light on the complexities of international adoption. Whether you're contemplating adoption yourself or simply seeking answers to your adoption-related questions, we pray that our story will inspire hope and offer valuable insights.
Subscribe to my channel for future updates on our adoption journey Together, let's embark on a meaningful exploration of love, hope, and the power of building families through adoption.
Books I recommend.
Some links may be paid links.
Toddler Adoption the Weaver’s craft
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Wounded Children, Healing Home: How Traumatized Children Impact Adoptive and Foster Families
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The Connected Child: Bring Hope and healing to your adoptive family
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Some helpful resources
Our agency www.madisonado...
Training creatingafamil... casaspeaks4kid...
Thanks for watching. 👍
Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button. 🙂

[@elisemarienygard7067]

I am also adoptet frome Colombia❤❤🇨🇴🥰 so happy for you

[@CiaraMcDowell]

oh really ? I would love to hear more of your story. Feel free to DM me on Instagram. Thanks you watching the vide

[@sandracarnal6772]

Please be very honest about his adoption and support him if he chooses to find his biological family. Also understand that it is so important to keep his culture constant in his life, such as customs, language, food. Not having that as he grows can be detrimental. I myself was adopted from Colombia and losing my culture is something that has affected me my entire life.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you for you openness. Yes we are trying to keep all of this in mind but could definitely work a bit more in helping him understand the Colombian culture.

[@DBWorld_YouTube]

New subscriber! We just brought our son home from South Korea 3 months ago. We, too, received some comments of "why didn't you adopt domestically?" It would frustrate me so much but you explained it so well. I look forward to following your story.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

yay thats so exciting, congratulations! I hope your transition is going well, every thing is so crazy in the beginning so hang in there. Yes we got that question a lot. Now I just tell them what I said in the video and it helps a lot with not having to explain everything. I just subscribed to your channel and cant wait to check it all out and hear your story.

[@DBWorld_YouTube]

@@CiaraMcDowell Aww thank you! I am genuinely looking forward to watching your updates. I hope others will be inspired and encourage adopt. Makes me so sad knowing how many children need loving families and homes.

[@mysue489]

Thank you for sharing your story and your honesty ! This is beautiful ❤

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you so much for watching and your sweet words. I try to do my best in being open and honest while still protecting my kids and their story.

[@sandrahurley3854]

Praise God for your witness! Praise God too, that he adopted us, while we were so unworthy. I know that you will enjoy that new little guy being part of your family. Pray that he will come to know Jesus as his Savior.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you. Yes we are so unworthy but regardless he still wants nothing more then a relationship with us. All three of our children and the best gift we could have ever asked for.

[@sarahhardenbergh8241]

I just came across your video and it was exactly what I needed. Thank you for sharing! ❤

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you so much for watching. My heart in sharing this video was to help others so if you have any questions please let me know and I’ll do my best to help. I’m guessing your in the process of adopting or thinking about it. I would love to hear your story in it all.

[@luciaescobarz]

I hope y’all will keep him private online. Being adopted is complicated and not easy for many especially when you get older. I see so many Americans making videos like this… i hpe y’all think thrice! it’s hesrtbreaking for most knowing and realising you will never be able to relive the times with your family since you were young. and most of my adopted friends including myself feel so lost at times. I hope you’ll wait till he’s old enough to put his entire story online. He can choose himself if he want to share his story with the world. I applaud you for wanting to help put other parents who adopted a child with your videos and practical tips. I hope people will realise adoption, especially international adoption is not something we should support unless the kid need special care he can’t get in his own country. Being cut off from your culture, people, language, family wtc is nog easy. Please support within family, district and country first before they travel all over the world 😮‍💨was adopted from Colombia too.q

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you for sharing part of your story and also looking out for a fellow adaptive. I really do try to respect his story and not give to much information while also helping others in the same situation, or looking into adoption. I believe it’s important for him to share his own story. Do you think I’ve shared to much? I’m always wanting to learn more from those who understand it from a different perspective.

[@pattythegypsy]

He is so beautiful ❤️ My husband is Colombian and we are also thinking to adopt 😊

[@CiaraMcDowell]

That’s so exciting. You should look In to the agency we used I have a video on my channel about Madison. They also offer a heritage program.

[@bonniebeams504]

I am a little confused. Your other video you said they handed him to you and he screamed, He didnt like you etc. This video he was a trooper and sweet and smiley and playful.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thanks for watching. Your right and I’m so glad you brought this point up and I should have addressed it in the video. So because of how difficult it was for him in the transition when we first met him they stopped videoing. We have a short clip of it but I didn’t want to share that so publicly out of respect for his story. The videographer and photographer couldn’t get many family shots on that first day so they agreed to meet us back at the orphanage 3 weeks later to take more pictures and videos. Those are the ones I shared more of in this video. Hope that helps with the confusion. I’m sure other people have thought the same thing. 🙂

[@samshalomdee61]

And oh i would like to know how much should spent for adopting a child in Columbia?

[@CiaraMcDowell]

It really depends, but I break it all down on this video if you wanna check it out kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZCVnHZ7j9measUsi=PkokyETa9X0DQs9S

[@AlexandraBishop-vy5mu]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful journey with us❤ We are considering adoption and it is so helpful to find videos like this. How long did your adoption take from start to finish? And was there a language barrier that any of you struggled with? How did you navigate the language difference.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Aw I’m so glad you found it helpful. So we started with our agency in March and we went to get him in April. Our entire process was pretty quick. Part of why it was so fast is because he was a waiting child. Yes there was a language barrier. It was a bit difficult to navigate at first. He understood Spanish when it was spoken to him, but he did not speak it. He didn’t understand anything in English for a few months but he learned fast. I have some family members that would speak to him in Spanish, but he really didn’t like it and would his his face from them. We learned a couple of things in Spanish that helped us communicate with him…but it wasn’t much haha. The hardest part with language barrier was when he was having a melt down and didn’t understand what was going on. So we spent a lot of time holding him until he could calm down. Then we could navigate what it was he was trying to express. google translation is helpful. We would used it sometimes but that didn’t last long.

[@sarahgowens7652]

We are adopting from Costa Rica, we imagine the process will be shorter than other countries. Many countries can be upwards of 4 years. We should have our adoptee in less than two years. We are learning some Spanish but language barriers are manageable! Don’t get discouraged by the cost either, there is ALWAYS a way financially. God has already provided the many thousands we need. Please do this wonderful thing!

[@newbyte-vk1zk]

Wow..This is interesting. God indeed was involved. Because I believe this must be the fastest I have heard of for Colombia. I pray ours becomes fast as well. God bless your heart. I will be reaching out for more questions, if you dont mind. Thank you Ciara. @@CiaraMcDowell

[@samshalomdee61]

Beautiful story, i am just so curious to know if we could get a new born to adopt?

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you. To be honest international newborn adoption is rare. I would recommend you reaching out to some agencies. Our agency was phenomenal here’s a link to my video reviewing our experience with them. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnXFiWqiaN-fpNksi=H4hiEZDVi2gam8qi

[@Kozette007]

I’m an expat living in Colombia planning to adopt.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Oh wow that’s amazing. Have you started the adoption process yet?

[@TheSharron47]

Your hair was beautiful before. Great video.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Thank you so much for watching my video. It means a lot to me. My hair right now isn’t for everyone but that’s okay 🙂

[@williamfelts8383]

Could you share how much you had to pay out of pocket? Not including travel and being in Colombia expenses.

[@CiaraMcDowell]

To be honest I don’t have all of it broken down. I would say it was around 30,000 before the travel. I have another video about the cost of adoption if you want to check it out. It might help you understand it all a bit more

[@Melycast3]

Hi. We are trying to adopt from Colombia as well. In order for our adoption application to be considered, we need to be open to so many conditions on the child. Is that common? What are the chances that you will get a child with major issues?

[@CiaraMcDowell]

Congratulations that’s awesome. Yes that is common and will be the case with every agency you work with. That was one of the hardest parts for us. You have to be open to them having things but they will also work with what you are open to. You just might wait longer for a child. If the child is young you don’t always know what they might have. If you want to contact more you can do me on IG.