(January 27, 2011, Nola)--Jeff and Laura Gaspard of Metairie share something in common with stars Angelina Jolie and Madonna.They have children they adopted from Ethiopia.
However, the Gaspards did not adopt just one child — they adopted four.The oldest, Kaleta, is 13. Dereje is 9 and Merhawit is 8. The baby, Birknesh, is 6.
The Gaspards had been married for 12 years and longed to have children. After numerous doctors’ visits and fertility tests, it was determined that Laura Gaspard could not have children.
“I began searching the Internet to find information about foreign adoption,” she said. “I found an international agency from Minnesota called Children’s Home Society and Family Services that help couples with adoptions.”
According to its website, www.chsfs.org, CHSFS is one of the largest agencies in the United States that is nationally accredited and recognized around the world for its unique approach in finding families for children.
There are currently 11 countries with which CHSFS is actively working to provide children in need with permanency through placement into adoptive homes.
In February 2007, the Gaspards made the connection with CHSFS and began the application process to adopt. They decided they wanted to adopt siblings.
An adoption specialist and a dossier specialist, someone who obtains detailed records about the couple, collaborated with a social worker in preparing the Gaspards for their role as adoptive parents. Intensive interviews were scheduled, and background checks were required.
“The social worker met us at our home and gave us specific information about the adoption process as well as preparing for how to raise an adoptive child,” Laura Gaspard said. “This was called the home study requirement of the adoption process. We also had to get approval from the Bureau of Citizenship Services for us to bring the children to America.”
In August 2007, the Gaspards began the 8,000-mile trip to Ethiopia, a country in northeast Africa, to adopt Dereje and his sister, Birknesh. At the time, they were 6 and 3 years old, respectively. Prior to traveling to Ethiopia, the Gaspards were given photos of Dereje and Birknesh.
The Gaspards met the children’s mother, and through a translator, the Gaspards said she told them, “I prayed that Dereje and Birknesh would be placed with a family that would love and care for them. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for providing a better life for them.”
After raising Dereje and Birknesh for two years, the Gaspards decided they wanted to adopt another child, They went through the application process again, and in June 2009, they welcomed Merhawit to their home.
When Merhawit arrived, she told the Gaspards that she had a sister, and once again, the Gaspards wasted no time in beginning the paperwork to adopt Kaleta.
Kaleta arrived in March 2010. In an e-mail, Peg Studaker, international adoption social worker for CHSFS, wrote about the importance of the Gaspards adopting siblings.
“We always love when families like the Gaspards come forward to adopt sibling groups so that the children can stay together,” Studaker said “Adopting siblings takes a strong commitment and strong relationship to embrace the challenges and joys of parenting through adoption.”
It did not take the Gaspard children long to adapt to the American way of life, nor to learn and understand English. Though they do not use their native language, Amharic, Laura Gaspard said she does not want them to forget it.
“When we sit down to eat, we say a blessing in both Amharic and English,” she said. “We encourage the children to continue to remember their native language.”
The children’s diet in Ethiopia consisted mainly of bananas, coffee and injera, a yeast-risen flatbread with a spongy texture. In this country, the children say that their favorite meal, besides fried chicken, is the gumbo their father cooks.
“They eat very well and have a love for all of the food that is here in New Orleans,” said Laura Gaspard, adding they also eat at Ethiopian restaurants in the metro New Orleans area. The Gaspard children attend St. Louis King of France School in Bucktown.
“The school’s principal, Pam Schott, has been wonderful to us,” Jeff Gaspard said. “She and her staff welcomed us with opened arms. And the teachers work diligently on developing the learning needs of our children.”
“Jeff and Laura have provided a nurturing home for these children that is full of love and is a true picture of what Christianity is all about,” Schott said. “The Gaspards have given Kaleta, Dereje, Merhawit and Birknesh a chance in life that they would never have had.”
Merhawit said the children all agreed that they are lucky to have the Gaspards as their parents.
“We are loved, and our parents provide for us like no one else,” Merhawit said. “We are very lucky children, and we feel we have the greatest parents in the world.” And the Gaspards said they feel their life is now complete.
“I cannot imagine not having the children in our lives,” Laura Gaspard said. “We are truly blessed.”
Source: Nola.com
However, the Gaspards did not adopt just one child — they adopted four.The oldest, Kaleta, is 13. Dereje is 9 and Merhawit is 8. The baby, Birknesh, is 6.
“I began searching the Internet to find information about foreign adoption,” she said. “I found an international agency from Minnesota called Children’s Home Society and Family Services that help couples with adoptions.”
According to its website, www.chsfs.org, CHSFS is one of the largest agencies in the United States that is nationally accredited and recognized around the world for its unique approach in finding families for children.
There are currently 11 countries with which CHSFS is actively working to provide children in need with permanency through placement into adoptive homes.
In February 2007, the Gaspards made the connection with CHSFS and began the application process to adopt. They decided they wanted to adopt siblings.
An adoption specialist and a dossier specialist, someone who obtains detailed records about the couple, collaborated with a social worker in preparing the Gaspards for their role as adoptive parents. Intensive interviews were scheduled, and background checks were required.
“The social worker met us at our home and gave us specific information about the adoption process as well as preparing for how to raise an adoptive child,” Laura Gaspard said. “This was called the home study requirement of the adoption process. We also had to get approval from the Bureau of Citizenship Services for us to bring the children to America.”
In August 2007, the Gaspards began the 8,000-mile trip to Ethiopia, a country in northeast Africa, to adopt Dereje and his sister, Birknesh. At the time, they were 6 and 3 years old, respectively. Prior to traveling to Ethiopia, the Gaspards were given photos of Dereje and Birknesh.
The Gaspards met the children’s mother, and through a translator, the Gaspards said she told them, “I prayed that Dereje and Birknesh would be placed with a family that would love and care for them. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for providing a better life for them.”
After raising Dereje and Birknesh for two years, the Gaspards decided they wanted to adopt another child, They went through the application process again, and in June 2009, they welcomed Merhawit to their home.
When Merhawit arrived, she told the Gaspards that she had a sister, and once again, the Gaspards wasted no time in beginning the paperwork to adopt Kaleta.
Kaleta arrived in March 2010. In an e-mail, Peg Studaker, international adoption social worker for CHSFS, wrote about the importance of the Gaspards adopting siblings.
“We always love when families like the Gaspards come forward to adopt sibling groups so that the children can stay together,” Studaker said “Adopting siblings takes a strong commitment and strong relationship to embrace the challenges and joys of parenting through adoption.”
It did not take the Gaspard children long to adapt to the American way of life, nor to learn and understand English. Though they do not use their native language, Amharic, Laura Gaspard said she does not want them to forget it.
“When we sit down to eat, we say a blessing in both Amharic and English,” she said. “We encourage the children to continue to remember their native language.”
The children’s diet in Ethiopia consisted mainly of bananas, coffee and injera, a yeast-risen flatbread with a spongy texture. In this country, the children say that their favorite meal, besides fried chicken, is the gumbo their father cooks.
“They eat very well and have a love for all of the food that is here in New Orleans,” said Laura Gaspard, adding they also eat at Ethiopian restaurants in the metro New Orleans area. The Gaspard children attend St. Louis King of France School in Bucktown.
“The school’s principal, Pam Schott, has been wonderful to us,” Jeff Gaspard said. “She and her staff welcomed us with opened arms. And the teachers work diligently on developing the learning needs of our children.”
“Jeff and Laura have provided a nurturing home for these children that is full of love and is a true picture of what Christianity is all about,” Schott said. “The Gaspards have given Kaleta, Dereje, Merhawit and Birknesh a chance in life that they would never have had.”
Merhawit said the children all agreed that they are lucky to have the Gaspards as their parents.
“We are loved, and our parents provide for us like no one else,” Merhawit said. “We are very lucky children, and we feel we have the greatest parents in the world.” And the Gaspards said they feel their life is now complete.
“I cannot imagine not having the children in our lives,” Laura Gaspard said. “We are truly blessed.”
Source: Nola.com
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