Leo-Cedarville Christian group reaches milestone

By Emma Downs | The Journal Gazette

The adoption agency's newsletter listed the two boys as brothers. Jose and Carlos.

And although the accompanying photograph of the boys was small and grainy, Rebecca and Tim Champagne were drawn to the faces of the two dark-eyed children, both peering through mops of black hair and smiling fiercely.

"It was one of those moments," Rebecca Champagne says. "Where you look at the photographs and think, 'These are our kids.' "

About 3 1/2 months later, the Champagnes, who live in Griffith in the northwest corner of the state, were in South America, meeting Jose, 10, and Carlos, 8, for the first time. Overwhelmed by the experience, the couple lavished the boys with potato chips and toys. The boys, in return, offered hugs and kisses.

"We knew these boys were special to us," Champagne says. "But we had no idea how special they were to our adoption facilitators in Indiana, too."

Gateway Woods Apostolic Christian Children's Home, a residential center for young people in Leo-Cedarville, began offering adoption services in May 2003. Since then, the center has assisted adoptions locally and internationally, helping Indiana residents adopt from South America, Africa, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, China, Liberia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and India.

Jose and Carlos, officially adopted by the Champagnes in December, were the 99th and 100th adoptions made possible by the organization.

"But they were so much more than just a number to us," adoption manager Jan Baumgartner says. "You look at the lives of these kids, being raised in Christian homes, permanent homes, and you see how God works on our hearts."

Gateway Woods assists adoptions in several ways, from providing home studies for prospective adoptive families to matching and placing children in adoptive homes, to providing post-placement supervision.

"It's the whole gambit of services," Baumgartner says. "Whatever is needed. But we've had more adoption placements than I ever expected in such a short period of time. And it's a miracle to see it happen - to see a couple find their way to a child - every time it happens."

As a Christian organization, Gateway Woods sees its adoption program as furthering its Christian mission, Baumgartner says.

"We require the adoptive parents be Christian," she says. "We're looking for committed Christians who will teach their children to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's our most important goal."

Currently, Gateway Woods is trying to reach out to adoptive parents and pregnant women in the Fort Wayne area, taking referrals from local pregnancy centers such as A Hope House.

"We want everyone to see us as an alternative," Baumgartner says. "We're about helping needy children. And there are a lot of different ways of doing that. Adoption is one way. And it's a wonderful way."

Jose and Carlos, now living with the Champagnes in Griffith, are attending school, learning English and teaching their parents Spanish in the process.

"I'm amazed what they've learned in just a couple of months," Rebecca Champagne says. "But Tim and I are just as amazed at how much we've learned, too."

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Published: February 23, 2008 6:00 a.m.
© 2008 The Journal Gazette

Posted: 08/18/2008