Home

Contact us!

Donate to CHASK

How CHASK Works

For Adopting Parents

For Birth Parents

View Waiting Families

Adoption Resources

CHASK Flyers

Waiting Children  

Statement of Faith

Current Needs

Children Waiting For Families

Children in CHASK's Private Adoption Referral Program 

 To potential adoptive parents:  Families who are seeking a new home for a child that they cannot parent, are trusting that you will provide verification via a current home study, lots of references, including name of pastor, social worker, immediate family and the lawyer you will be using. You should be willing and able to provide references.  We advise you to submit a CHASK adoption application.

 To families seeking to re-home a child:  Although CHASK has many potential adoptive families viewing your child's situation, an internet user or adoption yahoo group may pick up your child's availability and pass it on to others who are not part of CHASK.  CHASK does not have control over who contacts you via e-mail. Please be aware of people who are adoption scamming or "child-gathering". We suggest that you be sure they have a home study, make a personal home visit, ask for lots of references, including the name of their social worker, pastor and the lawyer they will be using to facilitate the adoption.

Baby Sharmaine needs a loving forever family.

This sweet little one was born on April 28th at 33 weeks gestation.  (She is now 2.5 months). She is believed to have a chromosomal disorder that involves multiple muscle/joint contractures, along with neurological abnormalities.  It is non-progressive, and appears to have been the result of multiple strokes inutero.  She will have cerebral palsy like symptoms.  Currently she is on a moist trach, is g-tube fed, is having trouble still regulating her temperature and has some dips in her oxygen blood levels.

Any size or age of family, any state.  Her adoptive family needs to be home study ready (or update close) and be prepared to care for a high-needs baby with possible frequent hospitalizations and many therapies to come.

Sharmaine is in New Jersey. Private adoption is fine or Bethany can handle the New Jersey end of things with their lawyer.

Please contact Pam Stapp at pstapp@bethany.org

Faith needs an understanding family

       Faith is a sweet 11-year old girl (adoption certificate says she’s 8), with suspected RAD, doing her best to make it in America.  She likes horses, butterflies, soccer, playing with her friends, having a story read to her, and going to the beach.   She has had difficulty bonding with her parents, her siblings, and her friends, but there is much to like about her.

         Faith never had the opportunity to go to school in Ethiopia as she was required to care for two younger siblings--especially after her mother passed away after giving birth to the youngest.  Faith is trying to recover some of her childhood after having to assume so many adult responsibilities as a child.  However, it has been hard for her to give up so much control of her life. She is a competitive girl. 

     She is making slow progress in school but progress nonetheless. Faith is  undergoing testing to determine if she needs special educational services, regarding language arts deficiencies unrelated to second language acquisition. She is rapidly progressing in Mathematics.  Currently, the school is trying to promote her to sixth grade despite that she cannot yet read. 

     She has been learning how to take responsibility for her words and actions in a large family setting (six children total).  She struggles to be respectful and to obey simple instructions.  She is a good worker, if she wants to do what is asked, and then she is very agreeable and helpful.  If she does not want to do the task, she will throw a temper tantrum. Faith can be deceitful at times and outright lie at others.  When upset, she wants you to know it by manipulative body language or loud wailing, which can last for an hour or so.

     When we adopted Faith two years ago, her birth certificate led us to believe that she was six.  We quickly found out as we watched her grow and grow and grow, that she was 11, give or take 9 months according to a bone age scan and dental records.  Having lived in Africa, we know that birth certificates are not issued there at birth, so we knew there would be discrepancies.  We didn’t expect there to be a four to five year discrepancy, though. This has added to her competitive spirit and caused much rivalry between herself and her two oldest siblings (our biological children) as she tries to assert her place in the family.  In fact, her relationship with each of her five siblings is problematic.  She doesn’t seem to be bonded to even her own biological siblings and all of her relationships in the family are difficult.  We have strived to teach her how to work out conflict, but this is taking considerable effort.  Also, while we’ve sought to teach her the cause and effect relationships between her behavior and consequences, Faith does not seem able to grasp her own personal responsibility for any given situation.  She rarely accepts responsibility for her actions without making an excuse that someone else is at fault.

     Faith needs a loving family who can minister to her special developmental needs. She was neglected and probably abused before coming to the United States.  Our hope is that Faith can receive more individual attention than we are able to give her, due to our own family dynamics with two other adopted children (Faith’s younger siblings) and our three biological children. We think a small family, perhaps with no children at home or close to Faith’s age, would be best for Faith so that she could focus on becoming the woman God calls her to be without focusing on competition with her siblings.

     Faith's adoption is complete, and she is a naturalized U.S. citizen.  If you are interested in adopting Faith, please call Mark and Taryn at 443-454-3424 or e-mail us mtdeets@yahoo.com.