Is Adoption the only way?

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

Before I write what's on my heart, I want to preface with something. I LOVE adoption. I think that it is amazing! I love that the church is finally really stepping up to take care of the world's orphans. If you are in the process of adopting, I admire your faith and would love to babysit for you haha. I also hope to, one day, adopt myself.

That said, I want to suggest something.

What if adoption is not the only way that we can live out James 1:27?

Think about it. There are 147 MILLION orphans in the world today. Granted, there are also enough Christians in the world, even the United States, that if everyone would adopt, there would be no more orphans left. But not everyone is supposed to adopt. Not all Christians are in a position where adoption is an option. For whatever reason, there are still 147 million orphans in the world with no one to care for them. 147 million orphans in the world waiting for families.

What if they were able to stop waiting?

What if they were able to have people love them, even though those people weren't adopting them?

What if they had dozens of brothers and sisters to play with and love?

What if they stopped feeling rejected and start to feel like they belonged somewhere?

What if all of that was possible within an orphanage?


A lot of you are going to disagree with that last statement, I know. I agree that a child should have a mother and a father, that is God's design for a family. But we live in a fallen world and for whatever reason that is beyond my imagination, children are growing up around the world completely alone with no one to love them.

I think back on the kids that I know in the orphanage in India that I get to work with. They are a family. They love each other and play with one another. They take care of one another. Of course, they pick on each other and can be mean like brothers and sisters will be like, but in the end they are truly a family.

They aren't up for adoption, domestic or foreign. At first, I didn't understand this. I didn't really like it. I thought but if they could get a family, wouldn't that be better? But after thinking about it for a long time and seeing the kids, I think I understand it a little bit better now. In fact, I like it. 

While there, Emily and I would joke about how we want to take them home with us. I would say, "They're little, one of them would fit in my suitcase I'm sure!" We were joking of course, but one day, one of the guys was just like, "Laura, they wouldn't want to go with you!" And he's completely right. They wouldn't want to leave. India is their home. LCH is their home and those other boys and girls are their family and the people who work there love them like parents. They wouldn't want to leave.

And I can't help but wonder what would happen if they were to leave. What if they were being taken out for adoption? What would that do to the family atmosphere? All their life, these kids had no sense of stability. They never knew where they would be living, who would take care of them, or if they were in danger. And then, if they finally found someplace safe to live, but its just a waiting room for a new family in America, then would it be just that- a waiting room? You don't befriend the people sitting in the waiting room of the doctors' office, because you will never see them again. Would it become that way for these kids? How would the fact that kids were leaving affect the relationships that are formed? How would the fact that some kids were chosen to leave affect those who were never chosen? Would they forever feel that they weren't good enough? That for some reason they are unlovable?

I'm not saying that adoption is wrong at all. Again, I love it. And granted, the kids that I have worked with are much older, so they are able to form family relationships amongst each other. Maybe in orphanages where the children are much younger, children coming and going wouldn't negatively affect the kids. I just can't help but wonder what it does to the stability of the place. AND not all orphanages are a safe place for kids to stay. Some of them, the children are just as neglected and mistreated as if they were living on the street. Those children should not have to stay in an unsafe environment like that.

And I can't help but wonder what else we can be doing to protect the fatherless besides just adopting.

Adopting helps one child and can potentially change one child's eternity- which is AMAZING!

But, think about the lives that could be changed by investing in an ORPHANAGE.



I'm not trying to plug the group that I work for (although, I'm never against that haha). I just want us to start to think about that. Why do we assume that it is impossible for a child to grow up happy and healthy in their own country? Why do they have to be adopted into an American family in order to have a good life?

What if they could have a good life and learn about God in their own country?

Just a thought for today. Please leave comments with your thoughts, opinions, questions, etc. I would love to hear what you think about this idea