Praise the Lord! Halleluiah!
A family has stepped forward to adopt 8-year-old Preston who was born with several developmental disabilities and ended up in a Ukrainian orphanage at the age of 4.
As previously reported by CLD, Preston was desperate to find a permanent family.
Due to “Ukrainian law, Preston cannot remain in his current living situation,”
“Preston has 6 months to be adopted or he will be returned to the Institution.”
The same institution where he was left by staff members to die just a few years ago…
You may have heard the inspiring story as local Christian believers rallied for Preston’s life back in 2016. On the verge of death, the government transferred him from his orphanage to a mental institution where he was expected to die.
But the local Church refused to allow him to die. They fought for his life and eventually he was released to recover with a foster family.
But his life was threatened yet again.
As explained in more detail in the updated post tracking Preston’s case, the Ukrainian government made his current situation unsustainable.
“Why can’t Preston’s current family adopt him?”
There is no doubt that Preston’s current caregivers love him immensely. They adore him and he is a genuine member of the family. They also went into this committing to care for him for one year, and now have passed the two-year mark. They never took Preston in with the plans to keep him forever. His current family saved his life. They nursed him back to life and have sacrificed SO MUCH because of their great love for him. Their hearts will break to see him go. But they are not, and have never been, his permanent plan.
- Much like in the US, after a certain length of time in transition, a child’s case must move to a permanency plan. Preston’s time in transition has run out. His permanency plan is adoption- either domestic or international. He cannot legally stay in his current situation.
- Ukraine does not allow single parent adoptions. He currently lives with a single woman and her adult daughter. Neither of them are legally allowed to adopt him.
- Both members of his current family have expressed more than once that they believe Preston would do best with a father in the family. He lights up around men and you can see he longs for that relationship that a father can provide. His current home cannot provide that for him.
After all Preston has been through, the Christian community refused to allow him to be sent back to the institution that almost killed him.
According to the site raising funds for his adoption, Preston has “dyskinetic cerebral palsy, other organic personality and behavioral disorders due to brain disease, damage, and dysfunction, congenital deformity of feet, nystagmus and other irregular eye movements, optic atrophy, and epileptic syndrome.”
He spent the first four years of life with his biological family, but they could not continue to take care of him and he ended up in the “Baby House Orphanage.”
There it is suspected that severe mistreatment brought him to the edge of death at which point the government transferred Preston to a mental institution where he was left in the “isolation hall” to die.
But local Christian believers heard of his dire situation and rallied to his cause.
“It was a fight. It was a battle I’ll never forget. I remember standing on the sidewalk outside the Isolation Hall. All around us was dark, save the moon above us, the four of us were discussing/arguing about what to do next. We were panicked and knew time was not on our side.”
“In the end we had to pull connections at the very top of the Ukrainian government to get our boy to the hospital. But, God made the way and to the hospital he went.”
His story quickly went viral and the country rallied for him and “the thousands just like him: forgotten, neglected, deemed unworthy, deemed a waste of time and resources.”
Eventually, he was released from the hospital and went to live with a local Christian foster family where he has been since.
Sadly, he couldn’t stay there. The only option for him was to find his forever family somewhere outside of the Ukraine.
He had 6 months before he would have had to go back to the institution that almost killed him.
A global search took place to find Preston his forever family and Christians shared Preston’s story far and wide.
Finally, after less than a month, the blog that launched this effort, Wide Awake Family, announced a family had stepped forward!
“Yes, it’s true. A family has committed to adopting Preston!
WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! So many tears and cheers around here!
Thank you to every single one of you who donated to his adoption grant and shared his face with the world. His mommy and daddy found him via social media, so sharing does work!”
Here at Christian Life Daily, we are praising God for this miracle, but our work supporting Preston is not done.
“So many of you have asked how best to support Preston, and now his family and I can tell you that there are two BIG ways you can help.
- Pray. If you are a person who prays, please pray for Preston’s family to be able to move through the adoption paperwork with lightning speed. Pray that no roadblocks get in their way so they can get to their boy before he is moved.
- Donate. The biggest obstacle to this adoption happening in a timely manner is MONEY. Adoption is sooooo expensive and this family needs our financial support to help them move along quickly. They have decided to commit their lives to Preston. In that commitment, they have agreed to all the costs that come with adding a new member to the family: emotional, physical, and financial. Let’s be real, it’s expensive to care for a child with significant special needs. Their adoption journey with Preston will continue on for the rest of his life, and so will the financial aspects of it. I would just love to bless them in this part of their journey. I would love money to not be an obstacle at all in bringing him home.”
Will you join us and our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world in this effort today?
https://wideawakefamily.com/2019/01/07/urgent-family-needed/
