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December 19, 2012
Local family tries to adopt from Ukraine
St. Joseph couple hopes to bring 14-year-old orphan home from halfway around the world By JENNIFER GORDON
B St. Joseph News-Press
orys’ photo made up the Pierce family’s mind. Of all the orphans the St. Joseph family could host, Borys seemed like the best fit. In his photo on the New Horizons for Children Web page, he had posed with his sunglasses upside down. The 14-year-old had just the kind of goofi ness Rawne (pronounced Renee) and Fred Pierce and their children Breesa, Nataly and Michael and their niece Macie could relate to. Last summer, he came from his orphanage in Ukraine to spend five weeks with the Pierces through the New Horizons program, a Christian organization that connects Eastern European orphans with host families in the United States. The hosting started as a mission project, Rawne says, to teach their kids about a world bigger than themselves. Borys ended up enlarging their family. “We didn’t have plans to adopt him, but as the summer unfolded, that tugged at our heartstrings,” Rawne says. Their family is already a little unusual. Macie, 16, has lived with the couple for more than seven years. Borys fit right into the mix, both Rawne and Fred say. He played hide-and-seek with Breesa, 7, and Nataly, 4. He helped out with chores around the house and enthusiastically assisted Rawne at the grocery store. The Pierces celebrated Fourth of July with Borys and took him to Branson, Mo. Language proved not to be a big issue. They learned basic Russian phrases to prepare for Borys’ visit. Rawne also downloaded the Google Translate app on her phone. With the app, pantomiming and the English Borys already knew, they communicated well. When the subject of adoption fi rst came up, Rawne and Fred met with a social worker to test if that was a rational decision, not an emotional response to the visit. They couldn’t see that Borys showed any signs of reactive attachment disorder, a condition that is common among children raised in foreign orphanages. With the age range, too, of their children, he fit into the family.
Jessica Stewar t | St. Joseph News- Press
Rawne Pierce with her youngest child, Michael, 9 months.
Submitted
Borys is a 14-year-old boy from Ukraine who is waiting to be adopted by the Pierce family.
Submitted
The Pierce family, front row from left to right, Nataly, 4, Breesa, 7, Michael, 9 months and Macie, 16. In the back are Borys, Rawne and Fred. Rawne says they worried about Borys’ chances for a future life in Ukraine. They were told his orphan status would make fi nding a job difficult. Fred says they want to give Borys the opportunities the family thinks everyone should have. They asked Borys if he wanted to be adopted toward the end of the stay, in a card Rawne had translated into Russian. “He’s reading it, sitting right there on the couch, and we’re all on the edge of our seats waiting, like, ‘What’s he going to say?’” Fred says. “And he fi nally gets done, and he says, ‘OK. Yeah.’” The family embraced him. They were glad he wanted to be part of the family, too, Fred says. They started the adoption process as soon as they dropped Borys off at the airport. They gathered up the paperwork they needed and went through the background screening. Expense also proved an issue. Fred and Rawne have dipped into their savings to help move the adoption process along and hope to raise the additional $17,000 they need. The family recently volunteered through the Both Hands Foundation to help meet the goal. The nonprofit coordinates service projects for widows while raising money to cover adoption costs. The Pierces took donations for their work on a local woman’s house. (Their video is up on bothhandsfoundation.org/fred-andrawne-pierce). They’ve also fi led for adoption grants. In the meantime, Rawne and Fred wake the girls up early every other Monday to call Borys on Skype. This downtime between Borys’ stay and his adoption has proved to be the hardest part. “He keeps hearing that we’re coming for him, but we’re not there yet,” Fred says. Fred and Rawne plan to go to Ukraine in January. Fred will return after two weeks, and Rawne will stay in country until the adoption is complete. They hope to have Borys home by March. Jennifer Gordon can be reached at jennifer.gordon@newspressnow.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPGordon.
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