Tulsa visit leads to adoption for Russian orphans

Tulsa visit leads to adoption for Russian orphans

by: ALTHEA PETERSON World Staff Writer
11/10/2008  12:00 AM 

Related Story: A chance of a lifetime 

Three of six older Russian orphans who visited Tulsa last week will be adopted by Tulsa-area families, and the remaining three have a good chance of the same, an organizer of an international program said this week.

Among them is Losha, 12, whose host family is moving forward to take him in.

This won’t be the first time for the Paytons of Pawhuska. Adoption has a special meaning to them.

Jacky Payton and his wife, Marie, have both adopted and biological children. And Jacky Payton himself was adopted by his stepfather at age 12.

“It meant that you had a complete family,” he said. “I know how important that it is to have a father.”

Thanks to the Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project, the Payton family plans to make Losha its latest addition.

“Adoption is … bringing the family that God intended for you to be together,” Marie Payton said.

Becky De Nooy, a volunteer with the Lighthouse Project, said it let the six Russian orphans experience life with an American family for 10 days with the goal of finding U.S. families to adopt them.

The orphans’ chances of being adopted range from “definitely” for three of them, to “reasonably to extremely good” for the other three, De Nooy said.

“Even if for only a week, they’re able to know a family’s love,” she said. “If you went to the airport the day a kid arrives and then go again the day the kid leaves, you see that change.”

One challenge for the Paytons and others adopting Russian orphans is the fee — $45,000. Because of paperwork and Russian government rules that require adoptive families to meet the children at least twice, it will take at least six months for the Paytons to adopt Losha. However, it may take longer to raise the money , Jacky Payton said.

“It’s in our heart, but of course there’s the financial issue,” he said.

Marie Payton said one of their sons volunteered to sell his horse to help pay the fee.

“Losha … is just an awesome kid,” she said. “He’s as active as our others. If you look at the pictures of him with our other children, it’s hard to tell him apart from the others.”

De Nooy said the orphans could not be told about the possibility of being adopted by American families until they were flying back to Russia, or possibly after they landed, because project organizers did not want to falsely get the youths’ hopes up should something happen later to stop the process.

“The (American) families are not supposed to tell the kids,” she said. “It’s just in case they can’t follow through, even if they have their best intentions.”

The Lighthouse Project will bring more Russian orphans to the area in January 2009 , including seven that couldn’t visit this time because of a dysentery outbreak.

If the orphans who made the recent trip are not adopted, De Nooy said, they may return to another host family again.

“The kids are not just forgotten about if they’re not adopted,” she said.

For most Russian youths in orphanages, the Lighthouse Project is their only chance to be adopted. Many who “age out” of orphanages in their mid- to late teens turn to crime or prostitution. Their life expectancy is 18 months after leaving the orphanage.

Associate Images:

Jared Payton of Pawhuska (left) and 12-year-old Russian orphan Losha (right) played soccer and went to Incredible Pizza while Losha visited America for 10 days. Losha returned to Russian Sunday, but the Payton family hopes to adopt him soon.

Copyright © 2008, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved