In 2012, CMomA launched our Adoption Grant Gifting Program. We put the word out to partnering agencies and organizations to let them know, “WE HAVE MONEY TO GIVE” to worthy and wonderful childless women, men and couples adopting special needs and older orphaned children. The number of special, new families to whom we’ve awarded adoption grants is growing steadily. You can read about some of our past adoption grant recipients here
Our Grant & Gifting Program has eligibility requirements that take into consideration the story of both the childless want-to-be parents and the orphaned children waiting to go home with them. We are delighted to share a bit about CMomA’s ninth grant recipient….the Rosenbarkers, a young couple who adopted a deaf 6.5-year-old boy from Kyrgyzstan name Mikhail.
Their Story:
Cody and Rebecca knew they would always want to adopt, as stated in their CMomA Grant application:
“We met while we were in high school and both attended the same college. We got married in-between semesters of our senior year of college. Since then, we have had some incredible experiences together, including teaching English in the Amazon Rainforest, touring the Mediterranean, achieving our Master’s Degrees, working in international college admissions, and will soon be traveling to Hong Kong and then moving to France for Cody’s work. Our family at this point consist of the two of us and our cat Tucker (who was “adopted” while we were living in the Amazon), but we are very excited to be adding adoption to our family book of shared adventures.
We are very fortunate to have found in each other a partner who was as drawn to adoption as the other. Many young couples plan on having biological children and raising a family together, but that vision never seemed “right” for us. We have both always felt that the way to grow our family was through adoption, and were particularly drawn to adopt a child that other families might consider less desirable.”
Mikhail’s Story:
Mikhail arrived at the orphanage around the age of two. While the reason for this is unknown, it may be because his birth family, realizing he was deaf, knew they could not support a child with different communication needs.
During their first visit to meet him, Cody and Rebecca shared that he was excited to be with them and picked up a few signs quickly. This gave them hope that, despite not learning any formal language in his first 6.5 years of life, his capacity for language learning was in tact enough to learn. He also seemed to realize meeting each other was something special.
Here Rebecca shares some of what happened when they met Mikhail for the first time…
“We got to spend about 2-3 hours every day to get to know and play with him. He is such a sweet and intelligent little boy. He is estimated to be about 6.5 years old but is about the size of a 4-year-old currently. Unfortunately, none of the caregivers at the orphanage have the time or resources to spend time with him individually, so he has not learned any formal signed language to this point- his communication with them and with his peers has been limited to gestures and mimicry. Since he can’t hear their oral instructions, he is very adept at following the lead of his peers to know when to eat, when to go outside, etc. He was very excited to see us each day and loved playing with the little toy cars we brought and reading through some of the books. We have been learning American Sign Language for several years now in preparation for adopting a child who is deaf or hard of hearing and were signing with him the whole time. He took right to it and definitely was able to understand several signs by the end of the 10-day trip. He even made his first two signs- “owl” and “airplane!.
But when it was time to leave Mikhail’was visibly sad, with his head down…retreating inward once more. Rebecca and Cody felt so heartbroken because he could not yet understand “We are coming back to bring you home with us!”.
May 29, 2016:
Our 1st skype with Cody & Rebecca, sharing the GREAT NEWS that they became our chosen 9th CMomA Grant recipient. here
After 3 trips to Kyrgyzstan, during the Summer of 2016, the Rosenbarkers brought Mikhail home and became a family of THREE!:
This dear child had never been taught how to sign, so he virtually had lived a life isolation and disconnection. This couple has not only has given him a safe and loving home but also opened up the world of communication! Rebecca shared that she felt “drawn” to learning sign language as a child with no conscious reason why at that point. Isn’t it amazing how our destiny gives us foreshadowing clues to what our life’s calling is so early in life? She has also now set up a language and culture mentorship program. The family welcomes visitors for extended periods of time who are from the Deaf culture. Rebecca and Cody said it is amazing to see Mikhail (and them) reach a new level of language learning!
Quote from Daddy Cody ~
“My son came to us at almost 7 years old and with no language, and so I’m thankful for a wife who works so hard with him every day, and a child who is beginning to understand words/concepts like “why” and “what happened. Getting a 7 year old to behave without those concepts is difficult!”
We at CMomA are forever grateful to share the journey with some of these special souls who have chosen to reach out to a precious child who needs and deserves a safe & welcoming home. From this loving intention, another new beautiful family has been born. It’s a joy to bear witness to how Cody, Rebecca, and Mikhail are thriving as a family today…
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