As I sit here and write (for the second time in a month!), my kids are upstairs sleeping. Sleeping, in their warm beds, with food in their bellies, clean from a bath, knowing, finally, that they are loved. Some people would say they're lucky. I say we're lucky to have them--we got the family we wanted. But there are many children in the world who DON'T have the family they want.
We've had the kids home 9 months, and just hit our one year anniversary of meeting them, and November is National Adoption Month. These things are making me very introspective about the journey we went through, and about all the children who got left behind. And there are LOTS of them.
Here are some sobering statistics. In the U.S. alone, there are over 500,000 in foster care, several hundred thousand of which are available for adoption. At least 13 million children worldwide are true orphans, without the care of either parent or any family members. In Russia, where our children were born, there are over 700,000 children in need of a family, most for social reasons. SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND--and Russia has half the population of the US. Russia is one of the top three countries from which Americans bring home children, the other two being China and Ethiopia.
The fact is, nothing good awaits these children in other countries if they are not adopted. These countries have no social safety net, and there's no way to get an education there without a family. Once the kids age out of the system, they are pretty much invisible people. The most recent stats I read for Russia stated that every year, 10,000 children age 16 or 17 leave Russian orphanages. 85% of those children turn to crime, drugs, and prostitution. 500 every year commit suicide because of the hopelessness. I would bet my life savings that the statistics are not much better for China and Ethiopia. And, the fact is, its not much better here for kids who leave foster care.
So, my plea is--PLEASE CONSIDER ADOPTION. Whether it be domestic infant (there's a special need for homes for minority children!), U.S. foster care, or international, children need homes. Yes, most adoptions cost money (U.S. foster care adoptions are generally free), but I'm sure, honestly, many people could evaluate their lifestyle and realize they have a lot more than they realize. How many lattes do you drink a week? Or energy drinks? How many trips do you take? Do you feel the need to have a new car every 2 or 3 years? These things may seem important, but they're not. Not when you think about the fact you literally could be saving a life. And I can tell you from experience, I cannot imagine loving kids more than I love these kids. Every person I've ever talked to who has bio kids and adopted kids has told me there's absolutely no difference in the love for an adopted child vs. a bio kid. From the moment these kids were brought to us in a hotel room at 9 am on a Tuesday in Arkhangelsk, Russia, they were mine.
So, before I get off my soapbox, here are few links to different websites.
Our agency, Adoption Associates, does both domestic infant and International.
Bethany Christian Services is another well respected agency that does both domestic and international.
http://www.bethany.org/
For info on U.S. Foster adoptions, check out the link below or talk to your state Department of Social Services.
http://www.adoptuskids.org/
2 comments:
We must have just missed each other we just got back from ARK too! Were you at the Pur Navolok or whatever it was on the boardwalk?
Ever since I was young, it was my dream to live in a big house, adopt a bunch of kids and have them all call me Big Mama. Being older now, I realize that I would like to have my own children, but it still hasn't deterred me from wanting to adopt one day.
There are so many children out there in need of the most basic things in order to survive and it's heartbreaking.
It's good to know that there are people out there who take children in and take care of them the way they deserve to be treated.
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