This has not been an easy week for us. In the midst of an already exhausting pace of life we saw that there was a 48 Hours investigative report on the agency we used when we adopted our kids. We had to wait a couple days to watch it and we were holding our breath wondering if we had been lied to about our children. We were wondering if they had been kidnapped, if they had birth-moms out there in Ethiopia who were praying for their return, and what we would do if this were the case.
As far as those pursuing adoption, we are not commanded to be omniscient, we are not commanded to know every detail about the background of our internationally-adopted child before we adopt them. However, we are commanded to be shrewd, discerning and honest. Thus, I would encourage people to adopt with their eyes wide open and I would encourage all the checks and balances. Thankfully we have a government who does not look favorably on “half-truths” or child-trafficking. So, take advantage of all the tools available through our government and other agencies committed to keeping adoption honest. We must pursue international adoption asking God to bring to light any hidden scandals or anything sketchy going on behind the scenes. He is powerful and he is able to do just that. Further, he is committed to justice and thus I have full confidence that he would answer those prayers. This is hard. It is hard because it might mean that a child that we have been longing to adopt is taken away. It is hard because it could make an already difficult and expensive process longer and more expensive. But we cannot pursue adoption in a fallen world, with what we now know, ignorant.
- Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home.
- Studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen.
- These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals (http://www.orphanhopeintl.org/facts-statistics).
Stories like that of the girls in this report that were kidnapped are horrible. But we cannot forget the horror of life as an orphan in many countries of the world. Let us not forget the little boys growing up on the streets learning to fight to stay alive. Let us not forget the babies in orphanages who do not cry because they have learned that no one will respond. Let us not forget images of crowded dirty orphanages. Let us not flee the horrors of scary adoption stories and leave these children in the horror of a life alone.
*photo from http://snapshotsfromourjourney.blogspot.fr/2012/08/radical-change.html