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From
LifeDate - Fall 2005.
Adoption: Finding a Family for a Child
by Wanda L. Pritzel, LISW, Director of Operations, Lutheran
Family Service of Iowa
 Adoption.
We think of it immediately when we hear of friends or family members
who are experiencing infertility. What a wonderful solution! Yes,
but it is so much more.
Adoption is not just
about finding a child for a family who can’t have a child. Consider
it the other way around: adoption is about finding a family for a
child who doesn’t have a family.
Hundreds of thousands
of children are waiting to be adopted. Consider the opportunity that
exists for us to loudly proclaim our belief in the value of life by
joining these children to permanent, loving families through
adoption!
No matter what the
age—from a 14-year-old girl in an east coast foster home, to a
5-year-old boy in a Russian orphanage, to a newborn baby in a
Midwest hospital, to a frozen embryo in a cryogenic lab on the west
coast—these lives are precious. God’s design is for children to be
raised in families where they will be loved, nurtured, and
protected. Open your heart and mind for the few minutes it will take
you to read this article, and consider these many opportunities to
make a life-long and eternal difference in the life of one child
through adoption.
Adopting an
Older Child
Today in the United
States, over 500,000 children are in foster care, and over 125,000
of these children are waiting for adoptive families. More than half
are eight years old or older, and some have special emotional needs.
Some are part of a sibling group who need to stay together. Most are
children who have lived the early part of their childhood in chaotic
and difficult situations. These children are legally free to be
adopted, having had their legal ties to their birth families
terminated. The only reason they are still in foster care is that no
family has come forward to adopt them. Each of these children has
their own unique story to tell, but they all have one thing in
common: a desire to be part of a permanent family. Adults with
previous parenting experience are often well suited to adopt an
older child, with the special needs they might bring. Maturity,
patience, understanding, a sense of humor, and perspective are
personal qualities of adopting parents who are successful in
parenting older children. Does this describe you or anyone you know?
If so, consider finding out about the possibility of adopting an
older child who is waiting for a family through your local adoption
agency or your state’s department of child and family service. Some
states have programs similar to Iowa’s KidSake Waiting Child
program, where a photo listing and written description of waiting
children is available to review (www.iakids.org).
Adopting
Internationally
Thousands of children,
from infants to teens, who live each day in orphanages in countries
including Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, China, Vietnam, and the
Philippines, are also waiting for permanent families. In many of
these orphanages, the physical needs of the children for nutritious
food and a safe environment, not to mention the critical needs of
spiritual and emotional nurturing, are going unmet. Bringing one of
these waiting children to a permanent place in your family would
change that child’s life, and yours, forever. International adoption
is increasing in popularity, with over 25,000 children adopted by
U.S. families each year. Each country has its own unique
requirements, and it is important that you work with a licensed
international child placing agency. Several years ago, the Lutheran
human care organizations throughout the United States joined
together to increase their efforts to place children from
international orphanages, by forming the Lutheran Adoption Network
(LAN). Through this network, families from any state with a
participating Lutheran agency can adopt a child from one of 14
countries. Explore what LAN has to offer by visiting their website
at
www.lanadopt.org. While you are there, be sure to read
the incredible story of Inga, a beautiful little girl who made her
way from an orphanage in Siberia to her new family in Connecticut.
Adopting an
Infant
Although infant
adoptions in the United States are not as numerous as they were in
previous generations, there are still many young men and women who
chose life for their unplanned child, and who are looking for the
right family to adopt the child they love but cannot raise. Through
agencies or through private arrangements, approximately 30,000
infants are adopted each year in the United States. The bond and
life-long relationship built between a child’s birth and adopting
family through semi-open or open adoption can be a powerful example
of love in action. Many resources exist for families interested in
infant domestic adoption, through the internet and through books
written to help prospective adopting families learn how to get
started. The publisher of Adoptive Families magazine produces a
comprehensive “how to” guide each year (www.adoptivefamilies.com).
Adopting an
Embryo
The most recent
opportunity to provide homes for children through adoption is the
possibility of adopting a child as a frozen embryo. These children,
now existing in the earliest stages of their development and
suspended in a frozen waiting place, also need families to raise,
love, and nurture them! As in infant adoption, the genetic parents
(who have more embryos than they need produced through their own
fertility treatment) have the opportunity to select which family
will raise their genetic child through adoption. After the
selection, the frozen embryo is sent to the adopting couple’s
fertility clinic where the embryo is implanted into the adopting
mother’s uterus, to continue through gestation, and eventually to
birth. One agency in the United States, Nightlight Christian
Adoption Agency of California, is currently placing children through
the frozen embryo adoption program they call “Snowflake Adoptions” (www.nightlight.org)
This program received
national attention when it was introduced by President Bush at a May
24, 2005 press conference on stem cell research. In affirming the
value of every human life, President Bush noted that there is no
such thing as a “spare embryo.” To put a face to these embryos,
twenty-one of the children adopted through the Snowflake program
were introduced at the press conference. It is estimated that over
400,000 frozen embryos exist in the United States today, with less
than 100 adoptions completed. As public awareness of the potential
for adoption instead of destruction of these embryos grows, a
greater number of these adoptions may result.
Adoption
Resources
A concern some families
have about adopting is the prohibitive nature of the cost involved.
It can be expensive, but with a little creativity, it is certainly
possible! The adoption of older children currently waiting in U.S.
foster homes is not cost-prohibitive, and in fact may be accompanied
by supporting financial resources from the state agency holding
custody of the child. Infant adoption costs may range from several
thousand to over $20,000, depending on the area of the country in
which you live and adopt. International adoption can be the most
expensive, with costs (including travel to your child’s country, and
support for your child’s originating orphanage) ranging from $15,000
to over $25,000. Although very new, the cost for frozen embryo
adoption is less than infant and international adoption.
The good news is that
there are resources that can help offset all of these costs! A
Federal Tax Credit of up to $10,390 exists for families who adopt,
as long as their income is less that $150,000 per year. This is a
direct tax credit, not a deduction from your income, and is applied
against the taxes you owe, dollar for dollar. See IRS publication
968 for details about this adoption tax credit (www.irs.gov/publications/p968).
Also, many employers offer benefits designed to offset the costs of
adoption for their employees.
What Can We
Do?
We express our belief
that there is no such thing as an “unwanted child.” Instead, we
believe that all children conceived are gifts from God, and deserve
a chance in life. A young mother faced with an unplanned pregnancy
chooses life instead of abortion. We celebrate that decision. Now
what? Is our job done? Is our witness complete?
The decision to give
life was made by the birth parents of over 125,000 children in the
U.S. and hundreds of thousands of children in foreign orphanages
today. These children now have life, but have no family—no one to
support and guide them through this life. You are invited and
encouraged to prayerfully consider these possibilities: |
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