Students and faculty at Baker University have chosen to open their hearts and homes to children in need of a good family.

More than 1 million children are adopted in the United States every year, both domestic and international, according to the Child Welfare League of America. Adoption is a way to give a child who is in need of a family a permanent home.

Joe Watson, assistant professor of mass media and communication, said he and his wife, Carol, decided to adopt after they were unable to conceive a child.

Watson and his wife adopted their daughter, Sydney, from China when she was eight months old. She is about to celebrate her fourth birthday, Watson said.

The Watson’s were initially interested in adopting a child from Russia, but decided to look into adopting from China because of the magnitude of children who needed to be adopted and the health of the babies.

Watson said once they decided on China, they knew they would adopt a girl.

The process took about one year and included a tremendous amount of paperwork along with a lot of visits from social workers and safety inspectors, Watson said.

“Looking back now, it didn’t seem so bad but there were definitely moments of frustration,” Watson said.

Watson said Sydney knows she was born in China, so he and his wife try to expose her to Chinese culture. They plan to take her on a trip to China in the future because he believes it would be an important experience for her to have.

“We have pretty much decided that Sydney will be our only child,” Watson said. “We are both in our early 40s and I don’t want to be one of the oldest guys in the stands, watching my kid walk across the stage at graduation.”

Watson said he is unable to imagine how Sydney’s life would be if she had stayed in China.

“We will give everything we can to her,” he said. “Her possibilities are limitless.”

Associate Professor of Philosophy Thomas Peard and his wife, Janet, also decided on adopting children from foreign countries.

Peard’s seven-year-old daughter, Anna, was adopted from China two years ago. Their son, Geoff, was adopted from South Korea in 1997 when he was five months old.

“When we started in the Korean program, there was an age limit and it was 45,” Peard said. “We were put on a waiting list and the people who were before us let us move ahead of them on the list. The adoption was approved one day before my 45th birthday.”

Senior Jamie Ingram said she had a different experience with the adoption process.

From the time she was in fifth grade, she shared her home with foster children, but also has three biological brothers.

“It had positive and negative effects,” she said. “There were random people coming in and out and some people you would get attached to and others you wouldn’t. It made for an awkward childhood.”

Ingram said most of the children were teenage girls, so she could share a room if there was a need. She said it was also easier for her to get along with them.

Ingram’s family adopted her sister, Jackie Sykes. Sykes was only supposed to be staying with Ingram’s family for one weekend.

However, that changed when Sykes’ mother gave up custody of the teen.

“I love my sister to death, she is my best friend,” Ingram said. “She molded with our family really well. We adopted her right before she turned 17 and she is now graduated but she still lives in our town and is a part of our family.”