DON'T BUY INTO THE LIE

There has been some buzz being perpetuated by a small percentage of people who believe they have the answer to the complex issues of the world's orphan problem. The lie is that adoption is only the drop in the bucket of a worldwide problem and that if we care so much about orphans we would just send money or mind our own business if it is not in our backyard. It may be a drop, but every drop counts. I actually had someone tell me, "there are too many kids, ONE can't possibly make a difference" and "let those countries with high numbers of orphans take care of their own problem, it's not our problem". I say we should consider adoption in addition to giving of our finances and time and work toward family preservation and national preservation goals first.

- I believe adoption is not only a blessing to both the family and the child, but I will take it one step further and declare that every well functioning family, who has an extra space for a bed and is throwing away food at the end of a meal, should highly consider adoption. Come on, think about your life... In the end wouldn't we want to say that we didn't hoard everything in our "circle", but that we had space in our homes and hearts for one more precious little soul? Wouldn't that be amazing??!!

- There are approx 550,000 children in U.S. foster care. Of these, 127,000 are available for adoption. Since we as "the church" claim to have a responsibility toward the orphan - I read that if ONE family from every ONE church in America would adopt ONE child from foster care, and the rest of that church's congregation would be willing to help that family with support in some way, there would be zero children waiting to be adopted from foster care! Awesome thought!

- Adoption domestically or internationally is valid and valuable! EVERY child deserves a home. YES, I AGREE and I will say it again.. preserving a national and ethnic heritage should be the first goal! But we have to look at the facts and the facts are, there are 147 MILLION orphans in the world. We have to put THEIR human rights first IF national ethnic preservation is NOT possible for that individual child.

- Can we properly parent a child of another ethnicity? Of course we can! It is 2011 and a multi- ethnic family is acceptable and beautiful. What is this, the dark ages? Why would we have to look at skin color in order to love? We are past that and can embrace and help the child learn of their culture and heritage.

- Adoption IS a ministry! We as parents often times would like to be involved in outreach or ministry of some sort. Many of us are average working families and missions may not be possible, yet, but you know what I can do? Be a MOM! I am good at being a mom and if that is the case, one thing I can do is parent another child. This is a sacred job and is beyond valuable.

- Why don't we just send our money to a feeding program or an orphanage? We do. And we will continue to do so! In fact I would venture to say that most families who adopt are also the very same families who give of their time and money on a regular basis to charity. And yes, adoption is expensive, but it is PRICELESS in view of the child's options. The investment is an entire human's life! Building a child who will be a productive part of society and will go out when they are adults and make a difference!

- Hadn't some children been adopted illegally? Sadly yes. This issue is constantly being scrutinized and the process has become extremely stringent now. This has to be considered and highly scrutinized. Corrupt practices must stop. But, we cannot throw out the idea of adoption because there are a percentage of evil-doers. That would be like never sending your child to a Dr because some Dr's were accused of malpractice. Adoption must remain an option. There are many very solid and dependable programs. It be a part of the puzzle.

Don't buy into the lie. Adoption is an option for ministry. A valid, giving, healthy, valuable option.