Three Decades of Adoptive Families
Share Parenting Experiences


By Rebecca Hackworth, LCSW, Director of Social Services for Dillon International,
and Susan Serrano, Public Relations Coordinator             

            From the emotional high of meeting their babies for the first time to the agonies of teenage rebellion, Dillon International, Inc., families spanning three decades shared their adoptive parenting experiences in a recent survey by the Tulsa, OK-based international adoption agency. The survey quizzed families on a variety of topics including their family situation, their thoughts on the adoption experience, their children’s mental and physical health, and their participation in post-placement heritage activities.
 

“I feel that our daughter was always meant to be ours and
that we would never have been ‘complete’ without her! She is a true blessing from God, as are
the other two kids.”  
 Amy Law (OH)


1973...Dillon International
places the first child
from Korea.
 
            What we found was a diverse group of families—some large, some small, some with a blend of birth and adopted children, and some with multiple adoptions from different countries—who shared a common overall satisfaction with the challenges and rewards of being parents. “Parenting is a rewarding and challenging experience regardless of how we reach the parenting position: Through pregnancy, same-race or trans-racial adoption,” said Dillon’s Director of Social Services Rebecca Hackworth, who led the survey project.

            “Children do not come with a manual, a guarantee or a refund policy! But they do teach us about the things in life that matter the most: the joys in simple things, the heartaches of watching someone you love struggle, and that sharing a gene pool is not a requirement for a relationship,” added Hackworth, who is the mother of two adopted daughters from Haiti.

            Although the survey did not have the benefit of a professional number-cruncher to analyze the results, it was a great way for Dillon—a non-profit agency that provides adoption services and humanitarian aid in South Korea, China, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Ukraine, and Vietnam—to “take its temperature” after 30 years of placing children with American families, Hackworth said.

            “We decided to contact some of the many families we have worked with over the years to see how they were doing and how their children were doing,” she explained. “We wanted to make sure we were presenting an accurate picture of the international adoption process to families that included the negative and positive aspects of the journey.”
 

“Both adoptions were frustrating, exhilarating,
and joyous. Each had its own set of problems and struggles. We believe that God had a plan for our lives and with the help of some precious people and a
lot of prayer, a family was born.”
Brenda Back (OK)


1986...Dillon International begins placing children from India.  Program includes adoption, feeding program for impoverished children, school for handicapped children, and vocational training for women.
 

    The surveys were randomly mailed last spring to 860 Dillon International parents, one-third of the agency’s adoptive families at the time. Forty-four percent of the surveys—representing 378 families with 564 children, 465 of whom were placed by Dillon International—were returned.

Some of the survey findings include:

About the Families

  • Over 45 percent of the survey respondents were between the ages of 45 and 54, and more than half said their annual income exceeded $75,000.
  • Nearly 47 percent of survey participants lived in a community with a population greater than 100,000 residents.
  • More than 53 percent of the families had no birth children and 41.3 percent had two adopted children.
  • Most families—over 67 percent—adopted female children.
  • Over one-fourth of those surveyed had adult adopted children between the ages of 21 and 26.
 

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