Adoption is an Important Subject to Talk About, Because There Are So Many Waiting Kids Who Need a Family!
Did you know that there are literally millions of children waiting for a family? They need people like you who are brave enough to adopt. This was originally a Facebook post I wrote. It made me realize that I needed to write a book about adoption! I did it! You can find my book on Amazon!
Let’s talk about adoption. Y’all see the cute photos of our adopted kids, but besides that, I am not vocal enough and don’t advocate enough for waiting children. This is not meant to be a guilt trip. I hope God uses this post to stir your heart and move you towards adoption.
To those who don’t have little kids in your home anymore, just teens, or adult kids—there is a waiting child who needs you. You can make a huge difference their life. I know it would change your lifestyle completely—I get it. Please pray about this though.
Look How Many Children Are Waiting for a Family (You?):
- There are 153 MILLION orphans in the world at this time.
- Over 100,000 children are waiting in the foster care system in the United States waiting for a forever family.
Myth/Truth: Adoption is expensive
TRUE. If you want a newborn infant, or if you plan to go overseas to adopt, you will spend $30,000 to $50,000, including travel expenses. However, if you adopt an older child or a special needs child, the cost could be anywhere from $1,500 to well under $10,000.
Adopting from foster care is FREE. I don’t think most people understand that. It is FREE to adopt a waiting child from foster care! Only take in kids who are “Legally Free,” if you want to adopt, do not take a child into your home who is “Legal Risk” or you will likely face heartbreak.
Down Syndrome children have no adoption fee through the National Down Syndrome Network.
Cradle of Hope has waived their agency fee for adopting kids with down syndrome from China. (So that the total cost including travel would be around $23,000 instead of $40,000-$50,000).
Truth: Raising Adopted Kids is Hard Work
It is not like having a bio baby who bonds to you from the start. When there has been neglect, trauma, long periods of waiting and possible substance exposure in the womb, parenting these kiddos can be rough—every single day. And yet——-in the midst of the hard stuff (that you cannot even see in our photos and I don’t share about here), I still encourage all of you, ADOPT!
Why This is On My Mind Today
I noticed that on some different Waiting Child lists, there are some of the *same* kiddos on there who were on there over 3 years ago, before we adopted our youngest. Either multiple agencies are totally delinquent in updating their lists, or—guys, these kids have been without a family—for all of those 3 years, plus…That makes me SO SAD.
Also, God has put it on my heart for a very long time to someday adopt a child with down syndrome. Every now and then I look what kids are available. It struck me today that, in our country there are kiddos with down syndrome who are 17 years old who need a family. 17! They are about to age out of the foster care system and they have no family. I am heart broken for these kids. These kids have NO ADOPTION FEE. Their total adoption would cost about $1,500 to maybe $3,000 (a home study). If I didn’t already have a 17 year old plus 4 younger kids, I would do this in a heartbeat! It costs $1,500 to completely change a kid’s life!
How do I recommend adopting? I will share some links of sites to check out.
Agencies we have worked with:
- The Boys and Girls’ Aid Society
- PLAN, an agency that was once in McMinnville, Oregon. They are no longer in business, their program has been taken over by Choice Adoptions
- Before we adopted Briella, we were part of the Colombia adoption program through Lifeline and we liked them.
- I have also been in contact with All God’s Children International in the past and considered going through them.
Photos of Waiting Children
You will find photos of waiting children from the United States on Heart Gallery sites. Rainbow Kids has pictures of many of the children who wait in other countries, as well as America.
Second Adoption
Sometimes kids are adopted and for some reason they don’t work out in a family. Sadly, the child may (often) take out all of the anger they feel on their adoptive mom. Perhaps their behaviors start to divide a marriage. Sometimes they don’t mesh with the siblings. Or, maybe they abuse other kids in the family (because awful things were obviously done to them) and they need to be in a home with no younger children. Sometimes they feel so insecure that they make everything about them, always, and the other kids in the family suffer. Sometimes a child has more severe special needs/medical/learning issues than a family was prepared to take on.
Each situation is unique, and I am not judging those who make this decision—some families come to the desperate place of needing to dissolve the adoption and find a new family for this child. Some of these kiddos (with more than average special needs, typically) are listed here on Second Chance Adoptions. These adoptions cost less than $7,000. It’s called Second Chance Adoptions, because really, some of these kids, for some reason, become like a new person for their new family, and many of their issues go away. We don’t know why this happens, but it truly is like a fresh, second chance for their life.
Pray About Adoption!
Please pray about adoption! I wish so many more people would adopt! Message me if you have any questions! I hope this is post encourages you to consider the orphan who might be out there waiting for YOU!
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