This handsome little guy is Brett.
Brett is 11 years old. He currently lives in an orphanage in an Eastern European country. Brett was not taken to the orphanage because he was an orphan in the true sense of the word (a child whose parents have died) but because he was abandoned by his parents because he has down syndrome. In fact, Brett's birth mother gave birth to him in a field, where she left him to die, until he was later discovered by someone else and taken to the hospital. The poor little guy pulled through, only to be sent to live out his days in an orphanage. Not a day in his life has he known the love of a family. His is one of the saddest biographies I have ever read... but it doesn't have to be over yet.
Brett is available for adoption - and only two things stand between him and the love of a family - exposure, and money. Exposure so that the people meant to be Brett's parents can see him. Brett's country is a popular one to adopt from, has no upper age limits or family size requirements. Families make two trips of one week each - the first to meet the child and bond with him, and the second after court has approved the adoption to pick him up and take him home. A number of wonderful adoption agencies work in this country and many, many children have been successfully adopted and redeemed from orphanages there.
Unfortunately for Brett, he is not in an orphanage where a large number of children are listed for adoption. In fact, he is the only one. So there will be no other families adopting other children visiting his institution, able to see him and report back about his progress. His picture is old - from 2009. He is in a seemingly remote place where he will get very little exposure, very little chance of finding his Forever Family... unless we change that. We must share this sweet little boy with the world!
The second thing Brett needs... is money. Sadly, so many times, families feel called to adopt and look through pages and pages of children, trying to find the one meant for their family. Many different children pull on their heartstrings. Brett already has two strikes against him, because both older children and male children have a lower chance of being chosen for adoption. Add to that his relatively low grant, which has been hovering around $100 for a year, and the family that sees him and thinks 'this could be our son' might be too afraid to take that leap for fear that they will never raise the money needed to pay his ransom. But if we can raise that amount already, so that when they see his face, they also see that he has dedicated advocates who will stop at nothing to see him come home, they might feel just a little more encouraged, a little less alone, and have the strength to make that leap to commit to bringing Brett home.
So far, his little life has gone from this...
to this...
to this...
Only with your help can he spend the rest of the days here...
instead of here...
This year, we got a unique opportunity to help Brett. He was one of the three boys over 10 years old who won a place on the Angel Tree. This means that Brett gets his very own advocate, my dear friend Laura, whose goal is to increase his grant fund by $1,000 between November 1 and December 31.
I have partnered with Laura to put on an auction to benefit Brett and two other RR children (which ones is up for bidding!) via a facebook page. I've found that these auctions are a great way to get Christmas gifts for your loved ones and, in the true spirit of the season, give to someone who has nothing, as well. If you could take a moment to check out some of the items we have for bidding, like our page, share it with your friends, we'll all be one step closer to finally getting that sweet little boy into the kind of environment he DESERVES... the kind of environment we in this country are only too lucky to be born into.
Make a difference this Christmas. Don't feed into consumerism and shop those black Friday sales this week. Shop with us from now until November 26, at Bids 4 Brett!
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