by Donna Carroll Batton

Created on: July 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

It took me a minute, while reading down the list of topics under the "adoption" category, to realize that I could write an article on "adopting a child of another race." My family is much like the United Nations but that fact rarely enters the minds of family members. All my grandchildren are precious and loved equally, by all involved.

The adoption process started in my family when my second oldest daughter and her husband had trouble conceiving a child biologically. They tried everything, from infertility testing to very expensive invitro fertilization. Nothing worked. It was an agonizing and frustrating few years for them.

After much discussion my daughter and her husband decided to adopt. They began the long search for a child through various agencies in the area. In the end, they chose an agency that dealt with overseas adoptions from South Korea. They chose South Korea mostly because this agency was the only one that didn't require long stays in the country as part of the adoption process. You only had to fly to New York City to meet your child who was brought over on an airplane by a student or other traveler from that country.

The entire process was a long and grueling one. The paperwork was mind-boggling and the background checks and interviews exhausting. But the determined couple persevered and, finally, after over a year of processing and red tape, they received a picture of a male infant who was born with a cleft lip. My daughter and her husband fell instantly in love with the baby in the picture. They put in a formal request for this infant and the final process was underway.

The whole family, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles were at the airport to meet my daughter, her husband and their infant son when they stepped off the plane from New York City. And it didn't take long for baby Anthony to wrap us all around his little finger.

Anthony underwent surgery to correct his cleft lip when he was four months old. He still had the braces on his little arms (to prevent him from pulling off the protective bandages) when I stood with my daughter and her husband in the judge's chambers to sign the final adoption papers.

My daughter and her husband didn't want Anthony to be an only child, so they applied to adopt another baby from South Korea. This adoption went a little quicker, though not by much. This time they decided to drive to New York City to meet the airplane that was bringing baby Tyler to his new parents. So we all had to be more

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