Adoption of Polish Orphans with D.S.

[Guest guest]

I should begin with a quick introduction, since I've been a lurker

for the past few months. My name is Schiltz, and I have 4

kids. We live outside of Minneapolis, in Minnetonka, MN. My third

child, Petey, is now 9 years old, and has Down Syndrome, as well as

Autism Spectrum Disorder (PDD-NOS). We just got the formal diagnosis

about a year ago, after years of me tentatively asking various

professionals if maybe he might have autism, and them all poo-pooing

me with " Oh, no, he's much too social! " The autism diagnosis has

made a tremendous difference in his progress. The things that the

school, his therapists, and we, his family, are doing to target the

autism part of his personality have yielded all sorts of results, and

just made him a happier guy, much more at home in his world than he

used to be. He's still mostly non-verbal, but is babbling more &

more, is starting to read and write, and is finally, I think it's

safe to say, totally toilet-trained! Yeah!!! He uses all sorts of

things to communicate -- signs, a DynaMyte, a few words, and, now

that he's starting to write -- he even sends out rudimentary e-mails

from school! (Like " Mommy. More money. Please. Love, Petey " )

This list has been enormously helpful to me in coming to grips with

the dual diagnosis. I recognize so much of Petey in the descriptions

of so many of your kids. It's amazing to hear how many other little

Woody-danglers there are out there in the world, for instance! Thank

you all so much for your generosity with us " free-riders " , who lurk

and learn.

I hope this isn't inappropriate of me, (and I apologize for those of

you who are also going to see this on the DS listserve) but I'm

writing to spread the word about a new program for adopting children

with Down Syndrome from Poland. The agency starting this program is

run by a woman who is a distant cousin of mine, Mimi Huminski. My

brother is her attorney. She's been working with Polish adoptions

for years. Just this past year, she was approached by a woman from a

local Down Syndrome support group who asked if there were kids with

D.S. in these Polish orphanages. Mimi had seen many of them over the

years in the orphanages she's visited, but had no idea that there

were so many people in the U.S. who might be interested in adopting

kids with D.S. So, she's started a new program concentrating on kids

in Polish orphanages with D.S.

Here's her description of her agency & this program. If you're

interested, you can call the answering service, at 724 506-1181,

anytime 24/7, to get a packet of information. You can also check out

her program at: www.adoptionspolish.com .

Huminska's Anioly, Inc. is Polish for Huminski's Angels and is an

organization dedicated to:

· promoting Polish adoptions

· consulting and advising parents

· encouraging post-adoptive families to maintain their

children's Polish heritage

· providing education, supplies and support for the children

and staff of the Polish orphanages

Mimi Huminski is the President and she along

with her husband adopted two children from Poland in 1989 and 1990.

As a result of their experience, the Polish attorney with whom they

worked asked Mimi to help her to prepare other American families for

Polish adoptions. That one request was to be the beginning of a life

long mission. Over the years, as Poland has grown out of communism

and has become established as a strong independent country.

Huminska's Anioly, has grown and developed too. Once a one woman

operation helping a few families with paper work to an incorporated

organization working with five Polish attorneys, collaborating with

adoption agencies in 28 states and overseeing Polish Adoptive

Parents' Associations(PAPA) Chapters in 13 cities. Most importantly

they have helped nearly 1000 children from Polish orphanages find

their " forever families " .

Mimi strongly believes that her mission is guided

by " others " and again in October of 2004, one woman asked her if

there were children in Polish orphanages who have Down Syndrome that

are available for adoption. The outgrowth of that question has

become a new program, The Polish Adoption of Children with Down

Syndrome Program of Huminska's Anioly, Inc. Although this is a " new "

program, it is launched by experienced attorneys and consultants who

have not only worked with Polish Adoptions for sixteen years, but

assisted with 60 to 80% of the children adopted from Poland to the

USA since 1990.

This new program is just as child oriented as the existing

one and operates much the same:

· Children are loved, educated and respected in well kept

orphanages

· Their pictures and information is not advertised or displayed

· A prospective family compiles and submits their dossier to

Polish authorities under the direction of Huminska's Anioly, Inc.

· A child or sibling group is identified for a specific family

· Pictures and all information is given to the prospective

family

· The family compiles a list of questions and receives all

answers before a commitment to adopt is accepted

· Within about a month from the time of acceptance, family

travels to Poland, meets the attorney and the child and completes the

adoption process (about 2 weeks in Poland)

· Four weeks later just one parents returns to Poland to bring

the child home (about 5 days in Poland)

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Welcome to the group. I found the Polish adoption agency very interesting. I

have no intention of adopting unless I want an instant divorce, excuse my

sarcasm. My husband would not be pleased at our ages nor would we qualify if we

wanted too. It's nice to hear that an agency like this exists. Nice to hear that

you have found supports that are working for Pete.

Charlyne

Mom to Zeb 12 DS/OCD/ASD

erschiltz wrote:

I should begin with a quick introduction, since I've been a lurker

for the past few months. My name is Schiltz, and I have 4

kids. We live outside of Minneapolis, in Minnetonka, MN. My third

child, Petey, is now 9 years old, and has Down Syndrome, as well as

Autism Spectrum Disorder (PDD-NOS). We just got the formal diagnosis

about a year ago, after years of me tentatively asking various

professionals if maybe he might have autism, and them all poo-pooing

me with " Oh, no, he's much too social! " The autism diagnosis has

made a tremendous difference in his progress. The things that the

school, his therapists, and we, his family, are doing to target the

autism part of his personality have yielded all sorts of results, and

just made him a happier guy, much more at home in his world than he

used to be. He's still mostly non-verbal, but is babbling more &

more, is starting to read and write, and is finally, I think it's

safe to say, totally toilet-trained! Yeah!!! He uses all sorts of

things to communicate -- signs, a DynaMyte, a few words, and, now

that he's starting to write -- he even sends out rudimentary e-mails

from school! (Like " Mommy. More money. Please. Love, Petey " )

This list has been enormously helpful to me in coming to grips with

the dual diagnosis. I recognize so much of Petey in the descriptions

of so many of your kids. It's amazing to hear how many other little

Woody-danglers there are out there in the world, for instance! Thank

you all so much for your generosity with us " free-riders " , who lurk

and learn.

I hope this isn't inappropriate of me, (and I apologize for those of

you who are also going to see this on the DS listserve) but I'm

writing to spread the word about a new program for adopting children

with Down Syndrome from Poland. The agency starting this program is

run by a woman who is a distant cousin of mine, Mimi Huminski. My

brother is her attorney. She's been working with Polish adoptions

for years. Just this past year, she was approached by a woman from a

local Down Syndrome support group who asked if there were kids with

D.S. in these Polish orphanages. Mimi had seen many of them over the

years in the orphanages she's visited, but had no idea that there

were so many people in the U.S. who might be interested in adopting

kids with D.S. So, she's started a new program concentrating on kids

in Polish orphanages with D.S.

Here's her description of her agency & this program. If you're

interested, you can call the answering service, at 724 506-1181,

anytime 24/7, to get a packet of information. You can also check out

her program at: www.adoptionspolish.com .

Huminska's Anioly, Inc. is Polish for Huminski's Angels and is an

organization dedicated to:

· promoting Polish adoptions

· consulting and advising parents

· encouraging post-adoptive families to maintain their

children's Polish heritage

· providing education, supplies and support for the children

and staff of the Polish orphanages

Mimi Huminski is the President and she along

with her husband adopted two children from Poland in 1989 and 1990.

As a result of their experience, the Polish attorney with whom they

worked asked Mimi to help her to prepare other American families for

Polish adoptions. That one request was to be the beginning of a life

long mission. Over the years, as Poland has grown out of communism

and has become established as a strong independent country.

Huminska's Anioly, has grown and developed too. Once a one woman

operation helping a few families with paper work to an incorporated

organization working with five Polish attorneys, collaborating with

adoption agencies in 28 states and overseeing Polish Adoptive

Parents' Associations(PAPA) Chapters in 13 cities. Most importantly

they have helped nearly 1000 children from Polish orphanages find

their " forever families " .

Mimi strongly believes that her mission is guided

by " others " and again in October of 2004, one woman asked her if

there were children in Polish orphanages who have Down Syndrome that

are available for adoption. The outgrowth of that question has

become a new program, The Polish Adoption of Children with Down

Syndrome Program of Huminska's Anioly, Inc. Although this is a " new "

program, it is launched by experienced attorneys and consultants who

have not only worked with Polish Adoptions for sixteen years, but

assisted with 60 to 80% of the children adopted from Poland to the

USA since 1990.

This new program is just as child oriented as the existing

one and operates much the same:

· Children are loved, educated and respected in well kept

orphanages

· Their pictures and information is not advertised or displayed

· A prospective family compiles and submits their dossier to

Polish authorities under the direction of Huminska's Anioly, Inc.

· A child or sibling group is identified for a specific family

· Pictures and all information is given to the prospective

family

· The family compiles a list of questions and receives all

answers before a commitment to adopt is accepted

· Within about a month from the time of acceptance, family

travels to Poland, meets the attorney and the child and completes the

adoption process (about 2 weeks in Poland)

· Four weeks later just one parents returns to Poland to bring

the child home (about 5 days in Poland)

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