Bringing home Ava: Couple plans to adopt 6th child

A picture of a little girl is taped to a kitchen cabinet in Nicole and Brandon Baker’s Gainesville home.

They’ve never met her, but they consider her their daughter.

The Bakers began sponsoring the girl over two years ago, in August 2007, through the Philip Hayden Foundation, which operates an orphanage in China.

“I said, ‘We’ve got to bring her home. She’s ours,’” Nicole Baker recalled.

The Bakers are now in the process of adopting the now-3-year-old girl, whom they have named Ava.

And this international adoption won’t be their first.

The Bakers have adopted one child from Russia and three from China over the past six years.

Nicole Baker, 38, also has an 18-year-old biological daughter, Katelyn, from a previous marriage.

Baker said she and her husband began researching international adoption in 2002 because she could no longer have children, but she and her husband still wanted to be parents.

“My husband wanted to be a parent and I knew I did too,” Baker said.

The couple adopted Jacob, now 7, from St. Petersburg, Russia in April 2003.

Nicole Baker said she remembers clearly going to the Russian orphanage to get Jacob.

“There was a baby staring at us. It wasn’t our baby, it was another baby staring at us. He looked like he knew that a baby was leaving and it wasn’t him,” Baker said. “That’s when I knew that this is not just about two people getting their needs met. It’s about a larger problem.”

And, Baker said, she knew then that she wouldn’t stop after adopting one child.

Just three months after the Bakers brought Jacob home, Nicole Baker started reading about adopting children from China.

Her husband was a little more hesitant at first, she said.

“He said ‘Jacob’s not even sleeping through the night now,’” Nicole Baker said. “But eventually he agreed.”

In October 2005, the Bakers went to China and adopted Kiah, now 4 and a half.

“When you go to China, you can’t ignore the orphan problem. It’s all around you,” Nicole Baker said. “I said, ‘We’re coming back. How can we not?’”

Nicole Baker said she then started reading about adopting children in China who have special needs.

“I thought, ‘We could adopt another healthy child, but we have medical, we have dental, why not adopt a special needs child,’” she said.

In May 2007, the couple adopted Luke, who is now almost 4. Luke was identified as a special needs child because he was born with a cleft lip and palate, Baker said.

“We were only home three months before we felt pulled towards adoption again,” Baker said.

In October 2008, the Bakers adopted Logan, who is now almost 3 and was also born with a cleft lip and palate.

Then came Ava.

The Bakers were researching whether adopting Ava would be possible, when in November they learned another family was adopting her.

That family traveled to China in January to adopt her, but halted the adoption process when they learned the extent of her special need, Baker said.

Ava has a disorder called congenital nevi, which causes her to have a large birthmark covering half her face and other birthmarks scattered on her body.

Doctors in China have not been able to treat her disorder, which puts her at a higher risk for skin cancers, Baker said.

“It just broke my heart when I first saw her picture,” Baker said.

After the other family halted Ava’s adoption, the Bakers restarted their adoption process.

Baker said she and daughters Katelyn and Kiah plan to travel to China in November to bring Ava home.

Once she’s in the United States, Ava will be able to undergo procedures to remove her birthmarks and treat her disorder, Baker said.

The Bakers are currently raising money to help fund Ava’s adoption and to donate to the Philip Hayden Foundation, where Ava has lived for much of her life.

“It’s our way to give back to the children who don’t have families and a way to support an organization that seeks to care for orphans in China with the most complicated special needs,” Baker said.

Baker said her goal with the fundraiser is to not just raise money to pay for the adoption, but to also spread aware-ness about international adoption.

“There’s such an opportunity for people to do some good,” she said. “People tell us ‘I want to adopt, but...’ and then they fill in the blank.”

Baker estimated the cost of an international adoption at about $23,000.

Baker has set up a fundraising Web site at bringingavahome.blogspot.com and is currently about $2,400 away from her goal.

She said she wants the community to feel involved in bringing Ava home.

“I didn’t want to be just asking for money in a time when people don’t have a lot,” Baker said. “But I thought maybe if people got involved and could see their money is going to actively change a life, they would want to help.”

For their part, the other Baker children are “super excited” about getting a new little sister, Baker said.

“Jake and Kiah have always called her ‘mei mei’ which in Chinese means ‘little sister’,” Baker said. “Kiah is especially excited because she has wanted a little sister for a long time.”

The Bakers said they’re not sure that Ava’s adoption will be their last.

“We always say we’re done, but ...” Nicole Baker said, her voice trailing off.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.