There’s little to distinguish Luke from any other American 5-year-old.
He loves to color. He’s adept at getting plenty of air on a swing.
Ask him if we wants his photo taken inside or out, he’ll choose out. “Out” in this case is a backyard filled with a patio, greenery and a big toy, with a luxuriant hillside as a backdrop.
It’s a far cry from the institutional “baby home” where Luke spent most of the first two years of his life on the island of Sakhalin in eastern Russia. Then his name was Yuri. Now it’s Lucas Yuri Douglass and he’s the son of Peter and Janine Douglass of Renton.
His life in America has turned out much differently than that of another young Russian boy who spent the first seven years of his life in eastern Russia. That second boy, Justin Hansen, was sent home alone from Tennessee to Russia after his adoptive mother became fearful of his behavior.
Even though he was adopted as a 2-year-old, Luke’s first year with the Douglasses was “a doozy,” Janine said. Based on what she has heard about the Tennessee mother’s situation, she said, “My heart goes out to her.”
The adoptions of both boys were facilitated by WACAP, or World Association for Children and Parents. The Renton-based WACAP is one of the largest adoption agencies in the United States.
Because of confidentiality rules, WACAP officials can’t discuss a specific adoption case. But it is bound by its own policies and laws imposed in foreign countries where it is licensed and in the United States that ensure the safety and well-being of the child and new parents.
Janine speaks highly of WACAP’s services during the adoption process in 2006 and afterward, including follow-up visits with a social worker and special WACAP support groups and summer camp.
The Douglasses landed with Luke at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on July 4, 2006. Taylor, now 14 and Janine’s daughter from a previous marriage, made a trip to Russia to meet Luke, too.
The family was briefed extensively on Luke’s medical and family history.
“Every step of the process you have an opportunity to say, ‘I don’t wish to proceed’,” Janine said.
On paper, Janine said, Luke “didn’t look very good.” He was born prematurely and had stopped breathing. He had a club foot. With many Russian adoptions, there is a concern about fetal alcohol syndrome, she said.
But the Douglasses’ concerns were eased in consultation with doctors at the University of Washington while they were still in Russia.
Janine’s health-related job as an occupational therapist at Valley Medical Center also gave her confidence they could deal with health issues.
Still, Luke was at times inconsolable and would bang his head and start rocking. But a doctor assured them he was “self-stimulating” because of the low exposure to stimulus he had received at the “baby home.”
Children 4 and older go to orphanages, which Janine described as “scary.”
Still, some behaviors lingered. Luke would hide food in his armpits. He had learned, Janine said, “that his needs weren’t going to be met.”
“He was in survival mode,” she said.
The Douglasses assured him that they had plenty of food. And they offered something more.
“We are a family,” she said.
Luke has some aggressive moments and the family is dealing with some self-control issues.
The Douglasses put together a book of photos they took when Luke was still a child in Russia. He likes to carry it around and it even became something he brought up in his kindergarten class at Renton Christian School.
It was “no big deal,” Janine said. He’s just an American kid. “He doesn’t know any differently.”
Anyone interested in adopting a child should become aware of the resources available to them, Janine said. Kirkland author Deborah Gray writes about attachment issues. FRUA, or Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, is also a resource.
She wouldn’t recommend that all single parents should adopt a child from overseas. Justin Hansen’s mother in Tennessee is single.
“If you are a single parent, it’s going to be even harder,” she said. “I tell my husband, ‘This is a two-person job’.”
