When adoption failed, woman set up orphanage

When adoption failed, woman set up orphanage

The Associated Press

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A Cape Girardeau woman who has wanted to adopt children since she was a teenager has established an orphanage in Guatemala.

Ana Morales tried to adopt two boys in her native Central American country in 2007, but the adoptions fell through. Undeterred, she opened an orphanage, God Bless the Children Home, last month in Guatemala City for 15 children.

Morales' non-profit God Bless the Children Association helps facilitate adoptions, operates the orphanage and supports two villages, the Southeast Missourian reported.

Link: http://www.semissourian.com

Morales has begun soliciting donations from neighbors and churches to help support operations. Four women care for the children, and a doctor and dentist donate their services. The orphanage costs $10,000 a month to operate.

Morales grew up in Guatemala but has lived in the U.S. for 14 years, the past six in Cape Girardeau. She and her husband tried to adopt children from Guatemala, but the country suspended international adoptions for two years after the discovery that some babies were being sold.

Last month, the country announced adoptions would resume with the passage of legal reforms.

Lost adoptions and money from other countries that would have followed exacerbated the orphan problem, Morales said.

Allen Basham, the mission director at Cape First Church, traveled with Morales to Guatemala last summer.

"It just stole my heart," he said.

They plan a trip to install a water purifier in a village outside the capital next summer.

He encouraged her to pursue the project.

"I have a tendency to think if we can dream it, God can do it," he said