I have added a poll over to the right sidebar of this post. Take a second to answer, please and thank you.
So far in our adoption journey I have found some interesting things out. The main tidbit being that MANY people consider adopting, plan on it someday or take concrete steps towards it. The reality is that only about ONE-THIRD of those people continue on to actually adopt! For every three people that look into adoption or take the beginning steps toward adoption, there is one actual adoption completed. I was honestly surprised at these numbers. I thought it would be much higher. Here is a helpful site about adoption statistics. I'd love to see some even more recent stats to compare to these I found.
My thought in this: what happens to these families along the way that makes them push this idea and these orphans to the side? How can they forget about the cause of the orphan and move on? Those of you that have adopted or are currently in the process, how does this burning desire and yearning for our child just go away? I cannot even imagine that right now. I know we all get curve-balls thrown at us in this life and things come up. I am not judging; just wondering what it would take in life to stop this burden.
Maybe you have considered adoption before and busy-ness got in the way or a major life situation; would you pray about whether God might be leading your family to pursue being a forever family for an orphan at this time in life? We are not all called or led to adopt, I do not mean to imply that at all by this post. And sometimes, even if we are being led to adoption, it may not be the right time in life to pursue it.
There are approximately 147 million orphans around the world. Most are living in horrible conditions. Some will be institutionalized after a certain age if they have disabilities and the rest will be turned out on the streets when they have aged out of the system. In America they "age-out" at 18 years old; in other countries it is as young as 13 or 14 years old. This only fuels the fires of human trafficking that is rampant in our world today. This makes my heart sick. What can we do? How can we help?
Even if you are not being led to adopt, there are many ways you can help.
1. PRAY!
2. Help others adopt by giving financially.
3. Be involved in organizations that aid in adoption and orphan care and those that stop human trafficking.
Tomorrow I will provide a list of links of GREAT organizations that you can be involved in...STAY TUNED!
Blessed Beyond Measure,
Stephanie
A couple thoughts...
ReplyDelete1) Many of the people who begin taking the steps toward adoption do so because they think they SHOULD, not because God is calling them to care for orphans in that way. When it becomes clear that they were proceeding because they thought they were supposed to instead of because they were called to do so, they stop and begin caring for orphans in some other way.
2) Some people get too brokenhearted to continue when a country they were pursuing closes its borders to adoption, or a child they wanted to adopt dies, or other serious hiccups make them stop, and they just don't have it in them to start again.
2b) Some agencies aren't ethical or well-managed. I know families who paid a lot and then had things fall through - sometimes at no fault of the agency, but sometimes due to agency mishandling - so starting again after that sort of blow can be even harder.
3) As you know, it's a lot - of money, of time, of paperwork, of uncertainty, of decisions - and the "a lots" can be overwhelming and make people pause or stop the process.
Obviously, we're part of that 1/3, but it's hard. And it doesn't surprise me that more stop than continue.
GREAT thoughts Shannon!
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteYou left one option off your poll - Have you already adopted? We adopted our son from Kazakhstan in 2006. It would be interesting to know how many people following your blog have already expanded their families through adoption.
eileen
Oh, you are so right! I wonder if I can add that option...I'm still new at this! Thanks for reading along Eileen!
Delete