COUPLE ADOPTS STEADY APPROACH TO FAMILY

Here's a story Of a Southside couple Who wanted their home filled with boys and girls. They tried for five years in Indiana, But they had no such luck. Then one day when this couple met this agent And they knew that it was much more than a hunch. So they adopted seven kids from Korea That's the way they all became the Garber bunch.

"Ithink adoption really fulfills your needs and a child's needs," said Nancy Garber, mother of seven and part-time kindergarten teacher. "In our situation, we couldn't have children so it was really fulfilling our needs when we adopted the first couple, and then when we wanted more children I felt like we were doing it more for them . . . We weren't really fulfilling more of our needs . . . After the fourth one _ we saw some more children out there (who) needed help and so that's why we went on and got seven."

But adopting children is not as easy as just wanting them. Nancy and Merle Garber started trying to adopt in 1970 but were unsuccessful until they went to an information meeting in 1975 on adopting Vietnamese kids after the war. At the meeting they heard about an agency out of Tulsa, Okla., that promised only a nine-month wait for a South Korean child.

And nine months later, they adopted Andrew, now 16. And then Joann, now 15, Matthew, 11, Mary Ann, 9, Anthony, 8, Patrick, 7, and Theresa, 3.

"We just wanted a lot of children, so that's how we got into the adoption field,"explained Nancy Garber.

The Garbers had to fulfill a lot of requirements to adopt all of their children. Most agencies have age and marriage requirements, they explained, and some have religious requirements.

The Marion County welfare department made sure the Garbers had a good home, Nancy Garber said, and the welfare department then sent the report to the state welfare departments of Indiana and Oklahoma, because the adoption agency was located in Oklahoma. The welfare report was then sent to South Korea, and South Korea sent the prospective parents a picture of the child, Andrew, along with as much information as it had about him.

In addition, for each child, the Garbers said they had to work with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to get permission to bring each child into this country. And they had to go through the court system to finalize the adoptions and apply for citizenship for the children. "So there is a lot of paper work and time involved," said Merle Garber, who works in the Indiana State Police communications section.

"It's very hard to adopt, but be persistent and keep pursuing it and I think you can adopt," Nancy Garber advises. "A lot of people want children just today, but it does take a long haul. You have to keep applying, keep talking to people, keep finding an agency, and so if they are consistent and they keep working at it, they would probably get a child."

After all that work, why did the Garbers go through it six more times?

"After awhile, we just really enjoyed it (adopting) and it just didn't seem that hard," said Nancy Garber.

"I think it's fun for them to have friends around all the time and not have to find people (to play with), and I think you really do it out of their need."

The parents are glad that they adopted their kids.

"(The best thing about being an adoptive parent) is just being a parent. I don't really think you think of yourself as being an adoptive parent after a while," said Nancy Garber.