Why not US adoption?

This is a hot button topic that I would like to delve into.  Often adoptive parents are asked questions like this:  Why not adopt from the U.S.?  How can you go outside of the country to adopt when there are plenty of kids in U.S. foster care that need families?  This is a very complex and personal issue, and I cannot answer for anyone else.  But I will share how and why we came to our decision. 

First, you should know that we believe in orphan care for ALL orphans.  All of them.  That means those in the U.S. and those abroad.  And really, not just orphans – children in abusive situations, in poverty, in foster care, kids who just need adult attention, and on and on.  We need to find the needs and meet them.  Children are our future, and we need to take care of them!  It is my personal belief that it is far better to reach out and care for children than it is to attempt to reform them later on in life when they are in trouble.  Yes, there is absolutely a need for more foster homes and adoptive parents in the U.S.  There is a need for after school programs, mentors, family reunification programs.  There is need for a lot.  And I pray that if you feel a burden for hurting children, that you will find YOUR area.  The need that YOU are called to fill, and fill it.  But for us, right now, U.S. foster care or adoption is not our place.  Not right now.  I won’t say never; because that’s up to God, but not right now.

Second, international adoption is a momentous undertaking! (You should seriously see the stack of paperwork that I have!)  We have already completed one domestic adoption, and we are prepared for this.  God knows that our previous adoption stretched us and now we can be stretched further, and that is what He is doing.  (I also have a theory that you have to be just a *tiny* bit crazy to commit to something this big, and He knows that on the taking-on-huge-things craziness scale, we’re pretty close to the top!)

Most importantly, YES, we need to take care of OUR children AT HOME in the U.S.  If we want to consider the U.S. to be OUR area to take care of because we live here and everywhere else to be someone else’s problem, because it’s THEIR country.  But here’s the bottom line for us as Christians:  They are ALL God’s children!  Kids in the U.S. don’t get preference because we live here.  Those are HIS children in orphanages!  The lonely, starving, abandoned – they are ALL His children.  We have to look beyond our own limitations and see that God cares for all of them equally.  I believe that God has purposefully orchestrated events to bring us to this point, to unite us with a child that is thousands of miles away.  I believe that He understands what a huge leap of faith this is for us, and that is part of the plan.  But I also believe that to God, her distance from us is of very little importance.  We are talking about the Creator who spoke our universe into existence!  How big of an obstacle is an ocean in His eyes?  Probably not very.  God plans to unite a child with our family, and the miles that we have to cross to make that happen are the least important part of the equation.

So yes, there are many children in the U.S. that need homes.  If you feel convicted about that, pray about opening your home to one of those children.  If you are already an advocate for needy children in the U.S., I applaud you.  But God has called us all to do different things.  For us, right now, God has called us to commit money we don’t have, to fly across an ocean to a country we've never seen, and adopt a child we've never met, who has unknown special needs, and to bring her home as our daughter.  Simple, right?  It is to God.