Adopted Alabama teen wants Bolivia to lift adoption restrictions
Adopted Alabama teen wants Bolivia to lift adoption restrictions
By Lisa Osburn • The Birmingham News • March 25, 2010
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BIRMINGHAM -- In her Bible, Sophia Powers, 13, carries a picture of a baby girl.
One look at the little face, and the teenager's mind returns to the South American country of Bolivia.
"Her name is Bella," Sophia said. "She has short black hair and is so cute. She likes to hang upside down. I did that and she started laughing. I pray for her most of the time. When she is in my Bible, I remember the orphanage, Bolivia and her."
Sophia and her mother, Nina Martin-Powers, returned to their Clay home last month from a mission trip to Bolivian orphanages. The trip was especially important to Sophia, who was adopted as an infant from one of the orphanages she visited.
Her bond to her birth country is stronger than ever, her mother said. And so is her determination to bring awareness of Bolivia's adoption policy. The government has all but stopped international adoptions.
"If something doesn't happen with adoption, the children will end up on the streets," Sophia said. "They are considered legal (adults) at 12 years old. And the orphanages set you out. They start begging if they don't find a job."
According to the U.S. State Department, the Bolivian government has not implemented regulations for international adoptions nor authorized any U.S. adoption agencies to operate in the country.
Martin-Powers and her husband, Eddie Powers, adopted three children from the country before U.S. adoptions were banned. She is appealing to Bolivia's leadership to allow U.S. adoptions, which would be lifesavers, literally, to the children she just met.
Mother and daughter spent 10 days in Bolivia, visiting three orphanages, including Hogar Fatima in Santa Cruz, where Sophia lived as an infant.
Her picture is still on a poster hanging near the orphanage's front door, a fact that was pointed out to Sophia by the nuns who took care of her as a baby.
The orphanage is clean by Bolivian standards, but the children still suffer from scabies and lice, Martin-Powers said. An industrial-size laundry room sat silent with broken machines, but the mother and daughter left $500 for their repair.
Adopted Alabama teen wants Bolivia to lift adoption restrictions
By Lisa Osburn • The Birmingham News • March 25, 2010
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BIRMINGHAM -- In her Bible, Sophia Powers, 13, carries a picture of a baby girl.
One look at the little face, and the teenager's mind returns to the South American country of Bolivia.
"Her name is Bella," Sophia said. "She has short black hair and is so cute. She likes to hang upside down. I did that and she started laughing. I pray for her most of the time. When she is in my Bible, I remember the orphanage, Bolivia and her."
Sophia and her mother, Nina Martin-Powers, returned to their Clay home last month from a mission trip to Bolivian orphanages. The trip was especially important to Sophia, who was adopted as an infant from one of the orphanages she visited.
Her bond to her birth country is stronger than ever, her mother said. And so is her determination to bring awareness of Bolivia's adoption policy. The government has all but stopped international adoptions.
"If something doesn't happen with adoption, the children will end up on the streets," Sophia said. "They are considered legal (adults) at 12 years old. And the orphanages set you out. They start begging if they don't find a job."
According to the U.S. State Department, the Bolivian government has not implemented regulations for international adoptions nor authorized any U.S. adoption agencies to operate in the country.
Martin-Powers and her husband, Eddie Powers, adopted three children from the country before U.S. adoptions were banned. She is appealing to Bolivia's leadership to allow U.S. adoptions, which would be lifesavers, literally, to the children she just met.
Mother and daughter spent 10 days in Bolivia, visiting three orphanages, including Hogar Fatima in Santa Cruz, where Sophia lived as an infant.
Her picture is still on a poster hanging near the orphanage's front door, a fact that was pointed out to Sophia by the nuns who took care of her as a baby.
The orphanage is clean by Bolivian standards, but the children still suffer from scabies and lice, Martin-Powers said. An industrial-size laundry room sat silent with broken machines, but the mother and daughter left $500 for their repair.
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Only a handful of workers take care of about 100 children and do the best job within their limited abilities, she said.
Bottles are propped up for babies, who are seldom held or even burped, Sophia said.
At 5 p.m., the children are put in cribs, where they remain until 8 a.m. At that point, most of the workers leave for their own homes and the children, ages birth to 5, are left largely on their own, Martin-Powers said.
The children return to their cribs again at 11 a.m. where they will spend the afternoon, she said.
The baby Bella, about 11 months old, found a special place in Sophia's heart. But she tried to spend time with all of the children, helping them with crafts and giving them toys.
The mother and daughter also visited orphanages for older children, where they gave the boys toy cars and wrestling dolls and the girls Barbie dolls.
Martin-Powers, a mother of four, said she watched Sophia, her oldest daughter, become a mature young lady on the trip. A typical picky teenager back home, Sophia ate whatever was put in front of her and wanted to spend every waking hour working in an orphanage, Martin-Powers said.
The trip probably will not be her last, the teenager said.
Sophia describes Bolivia as poor but beautiful, and said she wants to return as an adult.
"I feel like God would call me to be a missionary to my people," she said. "Maybe I would run a church or an orphanage."
Meanwhile, Sophia would love for her parents to get permission from Bolivia to adopt one more child -- maybe a little girl named Bella.