As a father of three daughters who God brought into our family through adoption, I believe international adoption demonstrates God’s heart for children to be included in a family. However, I also believe that international adoption is at least Plan C. I believe God designed families to be the best place for children. When this is not an option, the next best option is for a child to be adopted locally, helping to keep their culture and identity intact.
Unfortunately, this critical local, indigenous adoption is not always culturally acceptable or there may be no structure in place or bandwidth for social welfare agencies to facilitate the process.
This was true while my family lived in Ethiopia. When we moved to Ethiopia in 2009, international adoption was about to peak with over 2,500 children adopted to the United States per year. By 2017, corruption, stories of abuse and other ethical concerns had closed the door to international adoption for the thousands of double orphans in need.
At the same time there were cultural barriers to Ethiopians adopting. I had a number of young families in our church share with me that they wanted to adopt, but that their parents were against the idea. Dozens of others shared with me a burning desire to adopt because they had seen the beauty of adoption in my family, but the process was not yet clear. There also were concerns about how to love a child as “my own” who is not a blood relative?
Yet, there were those who chose to be trailblazers. Advocacy efforts started taking place within churches and NGOs. The adoption process became clearer while Ethiopian families felt called to say YES. Young Ethiopians stepped up to father the fatherless and mother the motherless as an expression of Jesus’ love.
