Konstantin Hicker had his adoption agency logo tattooed on his forearm three years ago as a way to thank the agency for helping him find a family.

The junior child and family studies major was adopted from Russia by an American family in 2006. Although the process was difficult for him, he said will always be grateful for the agency and for his family, which is what prompted to get the tattoo.

“This agency gave me another chance in life by giving me a family that supports me everyday and I am so lucky to have them in my life,” Hicker said.

Hicker first visited the United States in 2003 to visit what is now his family, and stayed with them for a month. Due to the fact he was coming from Russia, he and his adoptive family met some complications, making the consummation longer. Hicker said he went through quite a lot of stress because of these difficulties.

“When I had to go back to Russia, the government didn’t want to do anything with adoptions between them and the US because of bad experiences, so they stopped it and two years later it opened again,” he said. “So my parents weren’t allowed to come to Russia for two years and so they couldn’t finish the paperwork.”

Hicker was four years old when he was first put into the system, and was in the orphanage for nine years before his adoption. These complications also created a lot of doubt in Hicker.

“It was scary because in these two years I thought that these people who were going to adopt me found some other kids and I always told myself that I would never have another family and I was losing hope,” he said.

In 2006, Hicker was finally able to get adopted by his family. Hicker has since become a U.S. citizen, which came with its own challenges.

“Learning English was really hard and there were times when I told my parents to send me back to Russia because I didn’t want to learn the language,” he said.

Hicker said he feels the agency saved him and he will always be grateful to them for giving him a family that he loves. His way of paying tribute to their persistence was getting the agency’s logo tattooed on his forearm.

Another way he is returning the love and happiness he has been given is by pursuing a major in child and family studies.

“This tattoo means so much to me, because I was given another chance I feel like I owe people, especially my parents,” he said. “I want to work with kids who are going through what I went through, that is why I am really interesting in the major I am studying.”

Published on September 12, 2016 at 7:58 pm