The Malauries
Since in the upcoming months we will possibly be short of time as we intend to fully concentrate on our daughter (who arrives in June), we wish to recap our adoption experience before our second trip to Bulgaria.
Adoption is a long process during which people are subject to many administrative delays; also, there are long waiting periods when doubts and stress invade us all. Therefore in these circumstances it is fundamental to have people to provide you with advice and support. In our particular case we decided to entrust the adoption of our daughter to the association My child after a warm and reassuring telephone contact in which the proceedings were clearly explained to us; and after having read a well-crafted website on the Internet showing familiarity with the problems of both the adopted child and its parents. Also, great knowledge of the psychological aspects of adoption is inferred from the content of their website. The adoption proceedings are clearly explained there and we could find the answers to many of our quieries in it.
Never did we feel neglected during our first trip to Bulgaria. To start with, we were accomodatded in a flat in central Sofia, nice and fully conditioned for the child we were going to be united with during our second stay in the country. The flat was spacious, luminous, colourful, with games, books, drawings on the walls, traces of children who had stayed here before leaving for their new homes. On the next day, we were taken by car to the village where our future daughter lived. Tanya and Zlatka travelled there with us. They attended us on our first date with Mariana (our child) and in this way reduced our stress. Also, they translated everything that we said to the girl and what she said, to us. During our stay there, Tanya organised interviews with the people partaking in the girl's daily environment: we visited the school, the village social worker, we talked to the principal and the teachers who told us about Mariana´s tastes and activities. Tanya also organized other interviews in a public garden and in the hotel restaurant, where we were able to play with Mariana.
After our first visit to Bulgaria everything was taken care of. We were informed of the stages that came next: of the needed consent of the Ministry, the lawsuit and the organization of the second stay. Tanya had already visited twice our future daughter so that to prepare her for our arrival and to give her news of her adoptive parents. We received by e-mail the reports of those visits accompanied by numerous photos. We felt relaxed and taken care of, so we started our second trip with both great confidence and impatience, as we eagerly wanted to finally take Mariana home.
In Tanya we discovered somebody fully dedicated to our cause, and also, very caring for the Bulgarian children. Moreover, she stays in touch with the families long after they have left the country. She is a lady who has a family so large and her great heart is always open to the children. Hence we strongly recommend the association My child or „МОЕТО ДЕТЕ”.
