Bath family hoping to reunite sisters
By Kathleen Folkerth
BATH — Sarah and Bryan Fowler want their adopted daughter to be reunited with her sister and are appealing to the community for help.
The Fowlers, of Bath, adopted Olga nearly two years ago. The Russian girl, now 12, wishes more than anything to be with her sister, Masha, who is 15 and living in an orphanage for older children in their native land. The Fowlers are now trying to adopt the older girl.
It’s been a challenging task, Sarah Fowler said, but one that she is determined to see to completion.
“I feel like it’s a moral obligation to fix what needs to be fixed,” she said. “I feel like I couldn’t sleep at night if I didn’t do something.”
The Fowlers didn’t expect to find themselves going down this path. But five years ago their world changed when their only child, Alexandra, 12, was killed in a horse-riding accident during a competition.
Because Sarah Fowler was unable to have more children, a friend and cousin, Kristine Kiley, offered to serve as a surrogate mother so the Fowlers could have another child.
“I couldn’t imagine life without children,” said Kiley, of Montville Township, whose own children with husband Doug were toddlers at the time.
After some consideration, the two families went through with the procedure, and Kiley carried the child. But after four months, she lost the baby.
The parties decided to not try surrogacy again, and the Fowlers decided instead to pursue adoption as a way to bring a child back into their life.
“I’m 41 and my husband is 50, so we decided maybe a school-aged child would be fine,” Fowler said. “We figured there’d be so many more school-age children.”
They had just started looking
into profiles of children when
they got a call from their adoption agency, Copley’s
A Child’s Waiting, about Olga. Her story moved
them.
Olga and Masha’s father
died in December 2000, and their mother died three years
later, in April 2003. The two girls went to live in
an orphanage but had the opportunity that summer to
go to Florida for a two-week visit to meet prospective
families to adopt them. Olga stayed with a family with
a daughter about her age, and because the visit went
well, the family decided to adopt her. She returned
to Florida in April 2004. Masha, who was not adopted,
stayed behind in Russia.
Things did not work out for Olga,
however. The girl had problems sleeping and had many
fears. According to the Fowlers, her previous adoptive
family struggled with the situation and ultimately decided
the adoption was not a good idea. They contacted an
agency that specialized in disrupted adoptions and started
the process of putting
Olga back up for adoption. That’s when the Fowlers
found out about her.
“It was just something
that happened so quickly,” Fowler said. “We
wrote a letter and sent it out and got a call the next
day saying the parents wanted to talk to us that night.”
All of this was done without
Olga’s knowledge, according to Fowler. When the
Fowlers decided to proceed with the adoption and went
to Florida to get her, Olga didn’t understand
why they were taking her from what she thought was her
new home.
That was nearly two years ago,
and while Olga is still dealing with the upheaval she
has faced, she is also maturing and settling into her
new life, Fowler said.
“She’s changed so
much, from a shy little girl to someone who’s
no longer afraid,” Fowler said. “Olga doesn’t
talk about [her life in Russia], but I have a feeling
things were very difficult. When she came to us she
had incredible fears. She’s
really come out of her shell.”
She loves sports and animals
and is in the seventh grade at Revere Middle School.
But the fact that Olga’s
sister, Masha, is still in Russia and facing hardship
continues to sadden her. The two have had some contact
over the years with letters but haven’t seen each
other in more than two years.
Complicating the issue is the
fact that Masha will be 16 next summer, at which point
she will be forced to leave the orphanage and support
herself — something which is difficult for a teen
with no family to do.
“They get nothing,”
said Kiley as to how orphans are let out of the system.
“They don’t even give them underwear. If
you have precious things, they are stolen.”
Kiley said the average lifespan
of a homeless orphan in Russia is 24. Many turn to prostitution
or drugs.
“Masha has no skills, no
money and no family to
turn to,” Kiley said.
But that will likely change as
the Fowlers proceed with their plans to adopt Masha.
Paperwork is completed, and Fowler and Olga hope to
go to Russia later this month.
“I think it would be very
nice for Olga to see Russia again and her sister,”
Fowler said.
But even if the bureaucracy of
the international adoption proceeds without problems,
the earliest Masha could come to the United States is
February, Fowler said.
The costs of the adoption are
also adding up. With the adoption fees in the United
States and Russia as well as airfare for at least two
trips, travel within Russia and accommodations, the
tab could be as much as $40,000. This is on top of the
thousands the Fowlers have paid for Olga’s adoption
as well as their attempts at surrogacy.
To help the family with expenses,
a benefit dinner has been planned at Ken Stewart’s
Lodge in Bath Nov. 10 at
7:30 p.m. The $100 donation per person includes a meal,
a glass of wine and dancing to the sounds of John Boston
and Dr. Ray Miller.
Olga will be at the dinner, Fowler
said, and is looking forward to talking to those who
attend about her sister and their plight.
Kiley and Fowler said they understand
why some would ask why they are going through all of
this.
“Olga is here,” Kiley
said. “She’s only 12, but she misses her
family, and knowing her sister is still over there is
killing her. She has urged us to bring her back and
swap. She knows what it’s like there, and it’s
rough.”
“There are so many things
that we can’t do anything about in life,”
Fowler said. “These two children are just two
of many children that need help, but [Olga] is a child
already in our community that already many know. It’s
hopefully a chance to make a difference in someone’s
life.”
Fowler stresses that she
looks at Masha’s potential
adoption and its effect on Olga realistically.
“It will restore some of
her faith,” Fowler said. “She lost a lot
of trust in people. Her whole life before us ended.
To have someone to share that with, I think it’ll
complete everything for her. I’m not crazy to
think her world is going to change, but it’s going
to have a positive impact on her life.”
For more information on the dinner
and the Fowlers’ efforts to adopt Masha, call
(330) 338-6305 or visit the Web site www.savemasha.org.
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