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Southgate Family Adoption

Southgate Family Adoption

Sierra Leone
$1,550
Amount Raised

About this Fundraiser

About Our Adoption Fundraiser. 

We are excited to share our Adoption Fundraiser to “Bring Katie Home”. Katie is our beautiful 10-year old newest family member waiting for her adoption to be finalized in an African country. We hope that with your generous support she will join her forever family by spring next year.

In 2016 we were matched with Katie through an accredited adoption agency. At the end of 2016/early 2017 all the families and children in the country program found out that the agency was no longer able to operate in the country due to issues created in part by the agency program manager. It was a very traumatic time for everyone as we were not longer sure if we could continue with our children’s adoption and added to this stress, all families in the program lost significant amounts of money – in fact all the fees we paid to the agency.

Once we appointed our own lawyers in-country we found out the agency had not even had the basic paperwork in place and children’s investigations and paperwork was incomplete leaving families to start the process over again.

Fortunately, everything went well with Katie’s paperwork and in March I was appointed by the in-country court as her foster mother. Since then we have had to adhere the country process of waiting 6 months before we could go to court to finalize her adoption with the country court. We get to speak to Katie every couple of weeks via WhatsApp and every time someone travels to the country we send over books, clothes and necessities for her.

We ask for your generous support to help us raise funds to complete court and move to the next phase of the process which is to have her adoption finalized by the US embassy. Then finally she can come home.


Every donation, not matter how large or small, helps bring our Katie closer coming home to her forever family.

About Us

We are Dawn & Mali Southgate, an in the midst of our second adoption journey. As a single mom, I have been blessed with my daughter Mali, age 8 (adopted from Uganda in Dec. 2014). She is a bright light, who has thrived and blossomed since arriving in the US that cold December afternoon. It’s amazing that with love, a safe environment and security of family, adopted children can blossom in so many wonderful ways. Mali has also been to blessed with attending wonderful schools which has been amazing for her social, emotional and academic growth and development.

In 2016, I’ve found myself being drawn to adopt again, especially as Mali was asking daily for a sister. I started looking at ‘Waiting Children’ on some adoption websites and came across Katie’s photo. As soon as I saw her sweet smiling face, she pulled at my heart strings. I made some inquiries with the adoption agency and after hearing her story felt even more driven to find a way for Katie to join our family.

Many adoptive parents hope for infants and younger children and it is the older children like Katie, age 10, who can easily get left behind in a children’s home or orphanage and age out at 14 with no real prospects for the future. Given that her country is one of the poorest in the world, her prospects would be very bleak. Our biggest gift to Katie is to become her family and shower her with love, support and security and the opportunity for a brighter future.

In October 2016 we finally got to meet Katie on our match trip and know that she is a perfect fit for our family. Thank you to everyone who made it possible. Despite the setbacks we have had with the agency we are determined to complete her adoption and finally have her home with us.

Please Support Our Fundraiser

It is with much gratitude that we ask you to contribute to, and share our fundraiser with your family and friends. We deeply appreciate any amount that you are able to donate and would like to thank you in advance for all your encouragement, prayers and financial support, and for being a part of our adoption journey!

The funds we raise will be used as follows:

    • New Agency Fees $2000
    • US Lawyer Fees $1500
    • SL Lawyer Fees $3000
    • Travel Expenses $12,000 (3 additional trips to Africa – Court date / US Embassy Approval, Katie’s medical for US Embassy / Passport & US Visa) - If anyone can donate air miles for travel that would be amazing!

PLEASE HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ONE CHILD'S LIFE, AND MAKE TWO GIRLS VERY HAPPY!

With much love and gratitude,

Dawn & Mali


Tell us why you like this fundraiser

  • $20,500 One-time Goal
  • $18,950 Still Needed
  • 1 Lives Impacted

Field Partner

AdoptTogether 0
Springboro, OH, US
.
This Fundraiser has ended and is no longer accepting funding.

Fundraiser Organizer

Dawn Southgate
New York, NY, United States

Region Map

Sierra Leone

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Ended - December 31, 2099
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Southgate Family Adoption

by Dawn Southgate 1 Lives Impacted Sierra Leone

About Our Adoption Fundraiser.  We are excited to share our Adoption Fundraiser to “Bring Katie Home”. Katie is our beautiful 10-year old newes...

$1,550 One-time Donations
  • $20,500 One-time Goal
  • $18,950 Still Needed
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