Ala'a Eddeen
Iraqi boy with cerebral palsy adopted by U.S. soldier.
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Ala'a Eddeen was a nine-year-old Iraqi boy with cerebral palsy who could not walk when he was adopted by U.S. Army Capt. Scott Southworth during the Iraq War. This adoption became the starting point for a growing campaign to bring more disabled and orphaned Iraqi children to the United States. In 2007, CNN featured the story in its Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, where it was chosen as one of six finalists.
Quick Facts
- Age at adoption
- 9 years old
- Country of origin
- Iraq
- Year of first meeting
- 2003
- Date of first meeting
- September 6, 2003
- Orphanage name
- Mother Teresa
- Orphanage location
- Baghdad
Facts from the source article.
Meeting and adoption
Scott Southworth deployed to Iraq in 2003 for a 13-month tour. On September 6, 2003, halfway through that deployment, he and his unit visited a Baghdad orphanage named for Mother Teresa. The orphanage held 20 children, all with physical disabilities, cared for by a few nuns who also taught them some English. The soldiers played with the children to lift their spirits and to take their own minds off the war; twenty soldiers in the unit had been wounded, and one had been killed.
Southworth met Ala'a during that visit. The boy had lived in the orphanage since age four and could not walk. The soldiers made return trips, and a bond grew between Southworth and Ala'a. Southworth began thinking of Ala'a as a younger brother, and Ala'a started calling him "Baba"—Arabic for "Daddy." When orphanage staff told Southworth that Ala'a would be moved to a less hospitable institution within a year, he started adoption proceedings.
Iraqi law does not allow foreigners to adopt Iraqi children, but after returning home Southworth obtained a humanitarian visa for Ala'a. By then Southworth had been elected district attorney, giving him a steady income. The two began living together in January 2005. Ala'a's health improved greatly, and he started attending school.
More in People with Cerebral Palsy
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Adoption of Ala'a Eddeen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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