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Show 4DJ' ood fo be n America By SHERRI EINFELDT KAYSVILLE-Daniel Jorge Wilde, or 4'DJ," is really glad to be in Americaat least his smile would tell you so. He only knows a few words in English, like "I love you, keys, money, coat, shoes, bird, mama, bye." But DJ's facial expressions ex-pressions speak louder than words. He is truly happy that the Belinda and Michael Wilde family came into his life. Although DJ is about a year behind in his development, to look at him one sees a healthy, energetic, loving little boy. DJ is fascinated with his new world. Having never really been outside the orphanage, he loves the sky, birds, cars, people, everything there is to see. He also loves buttons on electronics, watches wat-ches and television. DJ already loves American food. His favorites are pizza, ketchup, fries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. escaped from Romania 20 years ago, and now lives in New York. He has temporarily returned to Romania to help couples adopt these children that he feels deserve a better chance at life. For the Wildes, he took care of the details and leg work and made the trip go more smoothly. The higher numbers of abandoned abandon-ed children are a result of past political pol-itical pressure on women to quickly. There is a group organized to help people do just that. Their address is: "Help the Children of Romania" Dept. 771246, Detroit, MI 48277-1246. The Wildes were lucky in that it only took them two weeks to finalize the adoption and return home. It often takes longer, as the process involves finding the birth mother and obtaining her consent, having the child medically checked, and going through the legal and diplomatic dip-lomatic paperwork. While there is a substantial time and financial commitment involved in trying to adopt a foreign child, the Wildes say it was well worth it. An interested couple may expect to pay an average of $8-10,000 for a foreign adoption. It may cost more if the couple is required to remain in the country longer, and could cost less if they go on their own without a mediator. The Wildes were touched by the many children in the orphanages who literally reached out to every person that walked by. Belinda and Mike would like to see more of these little children find loving homes where they can have the prospects pro-spects of a bright future, so they are happy to talk with anyone who would like more information on this adoption process. Then perhaps there will be more happy changes in the lives of these children who entered the world in rather undesirable circumstances, in a place far away. For in spite of drastic changes in lifestyle, little DJ has bonded quickly to his new family fami-ly and has been accepted very well by friends and relatives. The temporary language barrier is quickly broken by the affection he receives from the Wildes and whether or not he understands what it means when he blows a kiss it's a sure bet he knows he's loved. I f I I f jf b i i i . - ... r m m I - 111 "? 5 - : 1 ., I I - f - i 1 I 'I 4 1 rvl . ' j Pictured are members of the Wilde family, top row, Michael and Belinda; second row, Mekelle, Alyssa and Curtis; bottom, Lindsay holding D.J. Although D.J. speaks no English he has quickly adapted to the loving atmosphere provided by the Wilde family. The Wildes recently returned from a two-week trip to Romania, where they eagerly adopted 3-year-old DJ. He is now part of a wonderful wonder-ful family, although his start in life wasn't the most positive. DJ's birth The Wildes already had four children, who are very enthusiastic about their new little brother. Mekelle, 11, said, "He's fun to take care of." Curtis, 9, explained that he's happy, he always wanted a brother. Lindsay, 8, said that she's excited. And Alyssa, 4, answered, iIfsfine"-she likes DJ. When asked why they went through the process to get DJ, Belinda said she always wanted to adopt a foreign child, one who perhaps had no real opportunities in life. Several months ago the Wildes joined an organization called Families Involved in Adoption (F1A), which is a Utah group that basically networks and provides information in-formation to couples who want to adopt any type of child. They first looked at Brazil as a possible adoption source, but that didn't work out. After they saw the "2020" episode about the Romanian orphans, they were touched and knew they had to go there and find a child. They were assisted in their efforts by a gentleman who had perpetuate their numbers, even if they could not take care of and didn't want all the children. While many of the orphanages had unsanitary un-sanitary and poor conditions, most were better than the homes from which the children came. The orphanages at least had heat, and provided hot meals, music and occasional field trips. The Wildes say, contrary to some media portrayals, there are a lot of healthy children in Romania ready to be adopted. Some orphanages are more cooperative than others, however, in effecting these adoptions. adop-tions. The city DJ came from is called Galati and is on the Russian border. The Wildes said that, although the political situation seems to be slightly improved since the revolution, revo-lution, with abortion, birth control and religion now legalized, Romania still has a long way to go toward freedom, and there's no guarantee that the border will remain re-main open for long. So those interested inter-ested in adopting a child from Romania might want to move D.J.WILDE mother was an alcoholic in her forties for-ties when she gave birth to him, and she gave him up to an orphanage at birth. She hasn't visited him since. His father is unknown. |