It’s All About the Children

The name Sarah Mraz is known to more members of our Wide Horizons adoptive family community than pretty much any other. Not only did she spend 32 years working with us, but she also helped more orphaned or abandoned kids from around the world find loving homes in the U.S. than any other person in our 50-year history. With November being National Adoption Month, we felt a tribute to Sarah was the perfect way to celebrate.

Sarah fell into the world of adoption more by accident than by design. While looking for a position where she could use her fluency in Spanish — ideally in a not-for-profit organization — Sarah came across a job ad seeking a Spanish-speaker placed by an adoption agency in Waltham, MA. She applied, was interviewed and was offered the job by the time she got back home after the interview! The rest, as they say, is history. 

From her first day in the job, Sarah loved the work she did. She’d always enjoyed children and had sought out work with them, but this was different. This work was profound and transformational, and brought her into the lives of families in a special way. Being part of finding loving families for kids without one became her life mission. From years of traveling overseas, Sarah recognized that these kids had no voice, so she stepped up to become their voice, a fierce advocate for what was best for each and every one of them. She knew that time was of the essence — that she had to prevent every child from languishing in an orphanage for one day longer than was necessary. This sense of urgency drove her from the minute a child was matched with a family.

Sarah wore her passion and dedication on her sleeve. Her singular focus on finding a family for children with little to no prospects for a future wasn’t just a job, it was a calling.

“I will always cherish the first time I met Sarah. I sat with my husband in her office, grappling with the idea of international adoption. As we rode home silently, a whirlwind of emotions filled us — hope, fear, and heartache. Sarah had shared with us the desperate plight of children worldwide, who were needlessly suffering from lack of basic medical care, malnutrition, and human touch. Sarah embodied passion, love, empathy, and a selfless drive to make a difference. She didn’t preach; she emanated compassion and purpose. She fearlessly fought administrative and political barriers, unwavering in her mission to bring change.” — Sheelagh Cawley-Knopf (proud mother of the fabulous Franck — born in 2013 in Burundi and adopted in 2019)

Her first international adoption trip was to El Salvador in 1989, a country still in the throes of a civil war. Her visit to the Santa Ana orphanage blew her mind and changed her life forever. She had never encountered such poverty, lack of resources, such complete destitution. Nor had she ever witnessed so many babies and children desperately in need of help. There was 4-year-old Barbara, whose grandmother, unable to feed her, had relinquished her temporarily, promising to come back for her when Barbara was 8 as she’d then be old enough to work to help support her aging grandmother. And then there was a call to find a family for month-old triplets … Sarah couldn’t do anything to help Barbara, but she could help those babies. Sarah moved heaven and earth to find a home in the U.S. for them, insisting on keeping the siblings together in the same family — the Guest family. 35 years later, those triplets are married and have children of their own, and Sarah is still a part of their lives.

Sarah with the Guest family

Sarah, who has had a life-changing impact on many thousands of lives over her career, is still haunted by the kids left behind in orphanages. She is deeply saddened that so few international adoptions are taking place today — 1,275 in 2023 from a high of 22,988 in 2004 — because the need for adoption is still there. She knows that tens of thousands of children are spending their childhoods without the love and care of a family, mostly because of politics. While Sarah takes solace in knowing that she did her best for so many kids, her heart breaks for those beyond her reach.

Every child should be lucky enough to have a Sarah Mraz in their corner.

And, over her 32 years at Wide Horizons, more than 11,000 children did have Sarah in their corner. So did their parents — she made sure they had the help they needed to do right by their children.

“Sarah Mraz has played a pivotal role in the life of our family. When we learned that WHFC had located in Colombia the 3 little siblings of our 3 daughters, the joy and the excitement in Sarah’s voice mirrored our own and unlike so many others who thought that doubling the size of our family was crazy, Sarah’s enthusiasm and understanding of who we were created a deep connection. Then when we discovered our 6 children had three more siblings, Sarah partnered with us during the difficult days of The Hague Convention and supported us when some friends and relatives struggled to understand why we would actively choose to have 9 children. Today we have 10 in total and for each of our children, as well as for me and Rob, Sarah is the Tia//Hermana that every family should have! Yes, we love and adore Sarah Mraz!” — Michelle Novelle and Rob Ruddy

Sarah with the Ruddy/Novelle family

Sarah’s impact on the families she touched during her time at Wide Horizons For Children — and on us — is hard to quantify. But it’s easy to speak the truth about her impact. To all of us, she’s a legend.

If Sarah Mraz has touched your life, please consider a gift to our Adoption Fund!