(Excerpted from an article in the Seattle Times by Nicole Sanchez)
My husband and I recently adopted our beautiful 2-year-old son. When I share this amazing news with people, I sometimes get a response that, well, stings.
They usually ask me what country I adopted him from. When I reply “Tacoma,” their eyes get big. After I proudly tell them that we adopted him out of the foster care system, sometimes their eyes get even bigger, and all of a sudden they have nothing to say. Then there’s another group of people who start sharing “horror stories” of how they know someone who adopted and it failed miserably.
What is going on? What is wrong with people? A child is a child, no matter where they are from. We have to change the way we think about orphans and foster children. They are all God’s gift to us and are truly our greatest hope for the future.
Adoption in any form is the greatest expression of love, but what I cannot understand is why so many people do not have room in their hearts for children in their own backyard.
Every child deserves a forever family. Every child. They are not in foster care because of anything they did. It is because of their parents’ mistakes. And don’t forget, biological children have problems too.
For some, they never get a forever family and they age out of the system. Can you imagine? Never having a family to celebrate your birthday with. No mom or dad to call for help. Who is going to walk you down the aisle? Where are you going to spend the holidays? Thanksgiving? Christmas?