Recent News
100th Adoption Placement
New group home at Gateway Woods
You may have noticed the buildings north of Grabill Road and the construction of a new home as you drive between Leo and Grabill and wondered what is happening? You are seeing a new group home being added to the campus of Gateway Woods, a Christian children's service organization which serves children through its five services. Programs include Residential Child Care, Accredited School, Adoption, Foster Care, and Home-Based Services. There are many children who are served in the community beyond the four group homes on campus through Foster Care, Adoption, and Home-Based Services.
The Adoption Program, which grew out of the longstanding foster program, opened in May of 2003 and now has facilitated the placement of 100 children into adoptive homes. Through the Adoption Program, home studies for prospective adoptive families, matching and placing children in adoptive homes, and post-placement supervision and reporting are offered. Gateway Woods has places infants and older children (often through the Foster Care Program) domestically in Indiana. In collaboration with various international agencies, Gateway Woods has also helped to find "forever homes" for children from Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Liberia, China, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. Roughly, half of all adoptions are from the US verses overseas.
The 99th and 100th placement are Jose (10) and Carlos (8) from Columbia. Tim and Rebecca Champagne from Griffith, Indiana brought these brothers home from a foster home in Bogotá, Colombia on December 8. Originally the Champagnes were planning to adopt an infant from Colombia, which often includes a 3-year wait. However, while they were waiting, they saw a picture of Jose and Carlos on Children's Hope International's "waiting children list" and fell in love with the boys. The Champagnes came to realize these ages fit in better with their present lifestyle than infants or toddlers. Once they decided to adopt these older boys, their three-year waiting time was suddenly compressed into 3 1/2 months.
The boys are adjusting to their new permanent family, a new culture, and language. "They are doing amazingly well and are really making progress in learning English," say the new parents. Tim and Rebecca feel they have the best Christmas gift they could have ever received- two sons. There are hundreds of thousands of children from all over the world needing a family and the wait is not long for older children such as Jose and Carlos.
Gateway Woods works with local Christian families who have a desire to adopt. Jan Baumgartner, Adoption Manager, states, "We feel that there is no more important ministry than offering a permanent home and Christ's love to a needy child from here in the States or from a remote area around the World." If you are interested in Gateway Woods Adoption Services, please contact Jan at 627-2159 Ext. 103.
