Nov. is National Adoption Awareness Month

Lera - Born: August 7, 2005


Lera is a gorgeous little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is 4 years old. She is quite high functioning, and doing very well. She has flat feet and a systolic heart murmur, but no major heart conditions. She is able to walk and climb, she eats by herself, dances, and understands and follows directions. She has also been transferred to the regular class, so she is living and learning with her typical peers.

Lera lives in Russia and if a family does not commit to her within the next few DAYS, her time will be up. She will be sent to a mental institution where she will then be unadoptable. She will spend out the rest of her days tied down to a crib... left there to die. She will get no medical care, hardly any food, and no love. She will never have parents to call her own. My heart aches just thinking about it.

There's a grant of $1,000 available to the family that adopts her. To hear that her time is running out is painful Lera deserves a chance to live, to be happy, to go to school and have friends and have a mom and dad to hug her and kiss her owies and soothe her when she has a bad dream. She deserves a chance to be a ballerina or dress up like a princess for Halloween, if she wants to... she doesn't deserve to be tied to a crib and left to die. Just because she has Down syndrome.

Here are the specifications for Russia:
* 2 trips
* Both parents for first trip, about one week
* Both parents travel for 2nd trip, approximately 14 days
(One parent may leave after the court proceedings are finalized, after about 5 days.)
* Total program and travel fees under $25k
* Fee includes a $1000 orphanage donation
* Only one child can be adopted at a time
* Married couples and single mothers may apply

Could you be Lera's parents? She's waiting...