Moral Outcry

Adoption saved my life. It’s personal to me. So the past several days I have been wrestling with how to address the horrific story of the boy who was adopted and returned as damaged goods. The 7-year old was labeled as severely troubled by his adoptive family and placed on a plane back to Russia—alone. Russia was livid and threatened to end all adoptions with US families. The whole thing was such rotten publicity that my first instinct was to sit on it; it goes against all we are fighting for. But it’s tugging at me. There’s so much wrong with this whole scenario that we can’t let the simple news story affect us to a negative change. We don’t dare let this isolated incident be our lone example for a why not.

CNN decided to get in on the adoption game when it ran a story decrying the negative sides of adoption and noting that unknown children might have a score of mental and physical problems which are unseen at the outset.

To that I have only one response: The very same things can happen to naturally born children.

Don’t misunderstand me, please. I know there are some real issues that sometimes do come with adoptions, but I have seen those issues overcome with love and good parenting, with the power of the Holy Spirit and a lifestyle of prayer. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for medicine and therapy, or sometimes a combination of it all. But articles like this, along with the other “I didn’t really love my child” articles appearing after this scandal as some sick trend to get readers might scare away people who don’t know otherwise.

One adoptive mother pointed out that "It's terrifying… It's like meeting the man or woman you're marrying at the altar. There's no turning back. It's a lifelong commitment. It's really scary." (CNN)

Exactly. That’s what bringing anyone into your family does. When my friends have birthed their first babies they say pretty much the same thing. But what’s different about adoption is that somehow people may think there is an option to return the child. There’s not. Adoption is a lifelong commitment and it’s a role for the whole church to take on as one body of believers to help prevent this lack of hope that might occur without support and prayer.

That’s the real point here. It’s all of our responsibility as the church. We are to adopt or be involved in adoption. I write about James 1:27 a lot: Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. I will again. I will write about it ad nauseum because there is still an element that is in too much of the church that says “us four and no more.” Blood is not the qualifying mark of family—well, except for the blood of Jesus. That’s the only blood that makes a drop of difference to the Father.

We should be a people who embrace adoption, who support it every step for the who step in and sit up all night with adoptive parents who are loving children who maybe didn’t bond well or have other emotional issues, and help the parents through the time with their children. That’s what being the church should be in this arena.

At the end of the week with this negative publicity, I was skimming my hometown paper online and found this story from a huge Baptist church in Tyler, TX. It gave me a sense of pride for the area where I spent so many years of my life. Church members, at one of the largest churches in this region said, “it became increasingly apparent that caring for the fatherless is a calling for the entire church.” Partnering with the ABBA Fund, this ministry is doing its part in a one city. Other ministries do it in others. Person-by-person the torch is carried.

Likewise, centralized places like The Zoe Foundation provide support, even funding, for adoptions. All over our nation processes exist to help children be adopted into godly homes. I am so certain of this reality that as I stand fighting abortion in my own community, I know if a girl needed a home for her baby, I could tell her with confidence we could find a loving and godly home for her child.

If you support Bound4LIFE, you support adoption. This is part of our mission. There is no complete solution to abortion apart from adoption. And it’s our job to carry that out.

So what’s the answer? Randy Bohlender from the Zoe Foundation wrote this blog a while back which addresses how all of us can get involved with adoption. One of us can’t do it all, but all of us can do it as the body of Christ. For the One who redeemed us into His family, do we have another option?

Sound off in the comments.