By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Heidi Johnson of College Hill adopted 7-year-old Eve six years ago. This summer she'll travel again to China for a second daughter. The Cincinnati Enquirer/BRANDI STAFFORD

Susan Appel and her 27-month-old daughter, Katie, play at their Sycamore Township home. Susan adopted Katie from China. The Cincinnati Enquirer/BRANDI STAFFORD

Heidi Johnson was 38 with no husband "and no prospect of a husband."

But she still wanted children. Adoption agencies around the country are seeing more and more women like Johnson who have decided to adopt. She did some research and some soul-searching and went to China to adopt a daughter, Eve.

This summer, she and Eve, who's now 7 "going on 17," Johnson says, will be on the road again. This time, they'll be bringing back 4-year-old Pei-Pei.

It's not easy being a single mom with one child. Having two won't be any easier.

But coming home to her family every day will be worth every form she's had to fill out, every question she's had to answer, every hour she's had to wait to bring her daughters home, says Johnson, 44, of College Hill.

"I still say it's the smartest thing I've ever done, even when it's incredibly hard."

Plenty of children, at home and abroad, need parents. But it's often easier for parents, especially singles, to adopt children under 2 from abroad. Fewer babies are available for adoption in this country, and couples often are given first preference.

Hurdles exist for single parents in seeking foreign adoption as well: A few years ago, China decided that only 8 percent of healthy infants would go to unmarried adoptive mothers every year. If that quota has been met, women have to consider special needs children or older children or wait until the next year. Or the next. Or the next.

When Johnson decided she wanted another child, she decided to consider a special-needs child "because I wanted to be able to adopt again before I'm 65."

And that's how she found Pei-Pei, who was born with a heart defect that required surgery and some follow-up care. Pei-Pei, who will be 41/2 when she comes to the United States, now lives in foster care because she needed more care than the orphanage where she was left could provide.

China ranks second as the nation providing the most children for adoption to American families. Russia is first, according to federal immigration statistics.

Johnson's young daughter is looking forward to her big trip this summer.

"I'm going to China to get my little sister," Eve says.

Eve and Pei-Pei already have matching outfits. Her little sister's picture is "everywhere" in their College Hill home, Eve says.

Celebrities adopting, too

As more single women adopt children, celebrities are mirroring the trend. Here are a few high-profile examples. Calista Flockhart: The Ally McBeal star, 38, adopted son Liam (left) in January 2001. Never married, Flockhart has dated actor Harrison Ford since 2002. Diane Keaton: The 58-year-old actress is the adoptive mother of two children: daughter Dexter, 8, and son Duke, 3. Angelina Jolie: The 28-year-old actress adopted a Cambodian orphan she named Maddox in March 2002, shortly before her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton ended. Cambodian adoptions made headlines in January when a woman who helped Jolie adopt her son was accused of paying women to give up their children.

And she's looking forward to having a sister to play with. "But I'm kind of afraid she'll pull my hair."

Different life paths

Girls get the message early how things are supposed to work: You grow up, you get married, you have children.

Some women, like Susan Appel, eventually learn that not everyone follows that path.

"I think it's a question of what works for people," the 34-year-old Sycamore Township woman says. "Obviously, if you're single, you don't have the traditional, 'I have a husband, we're going to have children' option. People are deciding, 'I'm not married, but I want a family,' and this is the way to do it."

Even when she was a girl, Appel says, she figured she would get married and then blend a family from biological and adopted kids.

The married part hasn't happened, at least not yet. But the kid part did: Appel went to China to adopt Katie, who's now 2, when she was 9 months old.

Appel knows she's not alone: There are at least four informal support groups in Greater Cincinnati for single women who've adopted from overseas.

"Having adopted her, I realize even more so that the child is what matters, not how she got here," Appel says.

Every country has different procedures for foreign adoptions, says Mareda Eckert, who coordinates adoptions from Russia for Children's Hope International, an adoption agency based in St. Louis.

Some countries prohibit adoptions to singles. Some, like China, limit the number of adoptions to single parents.

Prospective parents need to research the regulations of the country they're interested in, Eckert says. Finding a reputable adoption agency - one that's accredited in the country and whose staffers are experienced in navigating the system - is important. Online sources, such as www.adoption.com, are a good place to start. And parents who have adopted internationally are great sources of information.

"You really need to do your legwork," Eckert says. She adopted her daughter, now 14, from Russia.

Appel chose China because she knew several people who had adopted children there and was comfortable with the system. She's now president of Families with Children from China-Greater Cincinnati. The group offers support and advice for its 200 member families, as well as cultural enrichment opportunities so parents and children can learn more about Chinese culture.

Three-nation family

Jill Lampman knows firsthand that every country handles adoptions differently.

Lampman, 41, of Union, Ky., adopted her oldest daughter, Elena, from Romania after reading a newspaper article on the subject. Elena, now 15, was 21/2 when Lampman brought her home.

"It wasn't a process I'd like to repeat," Lampman says. "Her orphanage was not a great place. There were so many children and so few workers and not enough food and not enough money to have any amount of decent food to feed them. A lot of the children were handicapped in some fashion."

Lampman adopted Elena privately because she could find no agencies with contracts to arrange adoptions in Romania.

Adopting her youngest daughter, Becca, was much easier. Becca, now 7, was almost 2 when Lampman brought her home from China. In the years after she adopted Elena, the Romanian adoption system became "unstable," Lampman says, with procedures that change quickly, and often without warning. The Chinese adoption system is much more stable, and adopting Becca was "much easier."

After Lampman decided on another child, it was Elena who asked to adopt her sibling from overseas.

"She didn't want to be the only person in our family who wasn't born in the United States," Lampman says. "Now we're a Romanian-American, Chinese-American family."

Bringing home baby

Adopting a child from overseas takes patience - and a good support network. Some advice:

• Think hard about what you're doing, why you're doing it and whether you're ready - emotionally and financially - for a child. When you reach a conclusion, think some more.

• You'll need a support network, especially if you're single - child care options, a baby sitter or two, friends and family who can fill in. Start lining it up.

• Every country has different regulations for foreign adoptions. Do your research about what those regulations are. Talk to other adoptive parents, a reputable adoption agency, or go online. www.adoption.com is a good resource. In general, countries like Russia and China that place more children overseas have smoother systems for adoption.

• Follow the paper trail: You'll be dealing with two governments, which means you're dealing with two bureaucracies. On this end, you'll need to work with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department. Check their Web sites - www.uscis.gov and www.state.gov - for information on the many steps that are required for bringing an adopted child into the country.

• Be flexible: Children's Hope International, an adoption agency based in St. Louis, asks families to be open to adopting children up to age 2. In Russia, girls are rarely available for adoption. In China, boys are rarely available. Some countries limit the number of children available to single parents or parents older than 40.

• Be realistic: The child you adopt will be scared. She might have physical or emotional health problems.

Sources: Children's Hope International; Families with Children from China; The U.S. State Department; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com