Is There Really A Need?

In the past 2 months since our children have come home, one question we have received repeatedly is...

"Is there really a need to adopt domestically? Aren't children dying in Africa? Why wait on a list domestically when there are thousands of infertile couples in America wanting to adopt? Aren't you taking "someone else's" baby? Shouldn't couples with kids not "take" newborns that so many other people want? Children are dying in Africa....at least kids in America can go in the foster care system and not starve....." While I am by no means an expert on the subject, I can say: Yes, there is a need for families in America. There is a need for families everywhere.

An adoption agency can in fuller detail describe why that need exists and the specifics of exactly how that need looks. My suppositions as to why there is a need were not exactly correct as we better understood the real need that exists.

This is my advice to those who are seeking where to adopt from:

Go where the Lord leads you.

Yes, there are millions of orphans worldwide.

Yes, children are being aborted here in America at horrifying rates.

Yes, the need looks different in different countries....but one constant remains:

Every child needs a family. Go where the Lord leads you.

I know I have at times in my own heart had a "hierarchy" of adoption. I have many times categorized that to adopt a healthy, Caucasian newborn was at the low level of the pyramid, while those who adopt a teenage, special needs, HIV+ child from Africa carry a special holiness.

Yes, it takes a certain calling to adopt children with more complicated histories, and the desire to do so must not be minimized, yet one constant remains.

A person is a person. Every life has value. Every child needs a family. Go where the Lord leads you.

Has everyone been called to adopt?

By no means.

Would it be in the best interest of a child for a couple who has no desire or calling to adopt to do so out of guilt or a sense of obligation?

Certainly not!

When we first began our adoption journey, it was to adopt a toddler from Ethiopia. We pre-applied with an agency, were pre-approved, sent in our formal application and were formally approved and then began the long haul of paperwork and fundraising. However, early on in the process, the Lord made it clear that our child was not in Ethiopia, but here in Georgia.

We never anticipated that.

In the months that followed, and up until the day we got the call and heard our children's story, my heart was still in Africa. Listening to that call, I knew, it is the Lord who sets the lonely in families, and he has clearly set Jordan and Eliana in our family.

Chances are the Lord has not called you to adopt all 163 million orphans in the world, plus the 1 million plus babies aborted in America each year. Perhaps He has called you to adopt 1, 2 or several of His precious children.

Should you take into consideration the need, requirements, logistics and details of a country or program before starting the adoption process? By all means! But in the end,

GO WHERE THE LORD LEADS YOU!

He will give the strength, finances, ability and joy for the journey. He will equipt you for the path He has called you on. Every child needs a family, and He will lead to the child He has known since the foundation of the Word would be placed in your arms. He sets the lonely in families, and He will guide you to your childen.

And then you will be able to look back over your journey and your child's story, and know that only He alone could knit together the details of your lives in the way He has.

Then you will raise your arms in praise and thanks that you have gone where He has led you!

"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain, He is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain."

GO WHERE THE LORD LEADS YOU!