Western Branch family holds yard sale to adopt from India

Garage sales are not unusual in Western Branch. However, Caroline and Kirk Kalmbacher are seeking to shrink the contents of their home to grow their family.

The Kalmbachers have organized a garage, yard, and pop-up bake sale on March 30 and March 31 to raise the money to adopt a child, ideally two, from India.

They set their hearts on adopting a child from India in 2017 and have been going through the complicated and costly adoption process for almost a year.

Kirk Kalmbacher works for the U.S. Coast Guard in Yorktown. He found out about Indian adoptions from a colleague who went through the process.

“We had thought about China and many other countries," Caroline Kalmbacher said. "We had never thought of India."

The couple has two young sons, Kebar, 5, and Zion, 3. They wanted to adopt another child and looked at the options in the U.S. and abroad.

“I had gone to several domestic and international meetings. I felt like the need was greater internationally,” Kalmbacher said.

“We are not afraid of traveling. We love to see the world, and we love other countries,” she said. Kalmbacher said she was moved by the huge number or orphans in India.

Kirk Kalmbacher added, “We want to grow our family within the capacity to which we are able to be good parents. We want more than two, and we want to help kids who don’t have parents already."

The couple signed up with an agency called Children of the World in April 2018 and made an application involving detailed paperwork. They completed a home study in September and applied to the organization in India responsible for managing international adoptions, the Central Adoption Resource Authority.

“We have been approved to adopt by the U.S., and we have been approved to adopt by India,” Kalmbacher said. “The next step is to get matched with a specific child.”

Caroline Kalmbacher said they are hoping to adopt two children. The completion date remains uncertain.

“We could wake up tomorrow, and they send us our file, or it could be six months out,” she said.

The high cost of adoptions is one of the biggest hurdles for hopeful parents.

It costs about $30,000 to adopt a child from India, Kirk Kalmbacher said. It would cost $40,000 to $45,000 for two children, he said. The family has spent about $12,000 to date. The costs include a fee of about $5,000 to the orphanage. Kalmbacher doesn’t resent paying the fee.

“On the other side of the coin, they may have taken care of our kid for the last three or four years," he said. "Shouldn’t I want to be able to support that?”

The Kalmbachers hope to raise at least $20,000 from fundraising campaigns like the yard sale and crowdsourcing.

Caroline Kalmbacher felt overwhelmed by the response of the Western Branch community to the yard sale. “I can’t even count how many families have donated to this," she said. "It’s been at least 30 or 40. Some of these items are brand new."

The goods include clothes, toys and electronic items like TVs and microwaves.

Despite all the hurdles, the couple has never lost hope.

“I’m so confident we are supposed to go to India that I know it’s going to happen at some point,” Caroline Kalmbacher said.

The yard and garage sale will run from 8 a.m. March 30 to 12:30 p.m. March 31 at 3505 Gloria Court, Chesapeake.

To donate to the adoption campaign visit: https://bit.ly/2TONx6W.