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International Adoption: Preparing for Your Trip |
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Making the Trip a Memorable Experience: Memory Keepers
With international adoption; the information on your child's birth and sometimes formative years is often scanty or unknown. For this reason, for the sake of your child, keeping a journal proves to be invaluable. A journal provides your child with a sense of belonging. She can sense what emotions you were experiencing, and what all you went through to make her a part of your family. In those years of trying to establish her identity, your journal of your child's adoption may be what she clings to in times of doubt. Begin your journal now in the preadoptive stages. Don't worry about having the right words. Just put down on paper how you feel and what you are doing in relation to the adoption process.
When you're in the country, take time to see the sights. Show an interest in the country's customs. Take photographs of the country and also of the people involved in your child's adoption. Bring along your camcorder and ask your facilitator or someone in the orphanage if they would videotape your first meeting with your child. Purchase some mementoes that are characteristic of the culture. Your child will enjoy looking at these and talking about them as she grows up.
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