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Local educators adopt boy from Guatemala

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Not all adoption stories are scary.

Peachtree City residents Lee and Carolyn McDermott had one child, Gannon, and were hoping for at least one more.

After several years of trying and the heartache that comes when those attempts aren’t successful, Carolyn brought up the possibility of adoption and the couple thought and prayed about it.

After doing the research, they started the process of trying to adopt a child in Guatemala last August. The couple brought their new son, Max, a 7-month-old, home on July 15.

Both McDermotts are involved in education. Lee is a teacher in the social studies department and is also the head baseball coach at Our Lady of Mercy High School, and Carolyn, a 1989 graduate of McIntosh High School, is a seventh-grade guidance counselor at J.C. Booth Middle School.

Their love of children and knowledge is apparent and the two couldn’t be happier with the new addition to their family.

As blessed as they are, they also want to share their story with those considering adoption, which others did for them as they proceeded through what is always a stressful process.

The couple was drawn to Guatemala because it is a predominantly Catholic country and because it was a country where they could adopt a baby.

The program they went through had the children who would be adopted living with foster families and this typically means that the child is healthy and well cared for.

Max saw a doctor regularly while living with the foster family in Guatemala and Lee and Carolyn traveled down in May to meet their son for the first time.

“When we came back, that was the hard part,” said Lee. “We had fallen in love with him already and it was really painful to leave, though we knew he was in good hands.”

Before their trip to meet their son, the McDermotts went through a process that Carolyn estimated involved about 15 steps.

Among the steps were getting fingerprints taken and having letters of recommendation written, as well as having a letter from their veterinarian assuring that their dog, a pug named Trey, was healthy. As they completed each step, they crossed it off the list and the time passed.

“There was no set timetable,” said Lee. “They estimated it could take approximately a year but we could also have still been waiting in December of this year.”

On July 8, Carolyn got the call that the process was complete and they could come and get their son. Carolyn went out and greeted her husband by asking him, “Want to go to Guatemala next weekend?” The couple left July 12 and returned three days later with their son.

Their time in Guatemala and the time they spent going through the adoption process has been a very humbling experience for the McDermotts.

While staying in a hotel near the American embassy in Guatemala, they met other families going through a similar process. It was there that they learned how quickly and easily their process was compared to others.

They also got to see the life that their son would have had if he stayed. Guatemala is a very poor country that has been plagued by civil war, government corruption, earthquakes and volcanoes.

While they know that Max will have a life very different than that of the children who live in Guatemala, they feel that he has blessed them 10 times as much, by giving them another child and by giving their other son, Gannon, a little brother.

Among the challenges of any adoption, according to Carolyn, are the expense, which can range anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000, and the sadness that comes from trying to have a child. Lee also cited being at the mercy of others to be a bit of a challenge in the adoption process.

“If there was a hitch, who do you call, especially if you don’t speak Spanish?” said McDermott. “We just had to realize that it wasn’t in our hands, that God had led us here and all we could do was pray about it.”

The McDermotts found support not only from other families that had adopted children from Guatemala but also from their own family members, friends and colleagues at both schools.

A Spanish teacher at Our Lady of Mercy who has since moved helped translate documents for the McDermotts and shared in their joy of a successful adoption.

Carolyn feels blessed that she has been able to experience both childbirth and adoption and the couple is considering adopting another child in the future.

The McDermotts will stay involved with the group that provided them support during the adoption process and both are big believers in what it can do for both the family and the child.

While the McDermotts are getting used to having an infant in the house again, Lee can’t wait to get both of his boys on the ball field and he is secretly hoping that one of them is a lefty, giving him a good pitching and catching combination.

Until then, there are many happy days to look forward to and all of the long hours and the months of waiting over the past year have all been worth it.