I get some ideas for this blog from the discussions that go on on some of the email adoption groups that I belong to.

One discussion that has been going round and round lately is the one revolving around the idea of adoption being a way to “save a child”.

This is a complicated one, and one that seems to come up fairly frequently on the email groups, so I thought I would tackle it here.

Here are my thoughts, in total random order.

-No one should ever adopt for the SOLE reason of wanting to save a child. There are many other ways that someone can save a child. You can sponsor a child so that they can remain in their family/village and get food and an education, you can support programs that provide food, medical treatment and resources to families in third world countries, you can support programs that provide surgeries and other medical treatments to needy children in areas without the resources, etc.

While many people DO choose adoption because they want to give a home to a child that doesn’t have one, or they are worried about overpopulation or they want to do a “good thing”, that is ok, as long as it is combined with the true, heart felt want to love and parent a child.

Anyone choosing to adopt should be doing so with a genuine desire for a child (or another child). Adoption is a way to expand your family, NOT an act of charity.

-It is o.k. to acknowledge however, that in many cases, adoption does however “save a child.” I know countless children who were adopted with special needs, that had they remained in their country of birth, they would have died or lived an extremely limited life. I also know many children who were suffering emotionally and physically before being adopted, and adoption “saved” them from abuse, neglect, hunger, malnutrition, illness, loneliness, etc.

In my opinion, a child with a life-threatening condition who is suffering in an orphanage, that gets adopted and gets love and a family and access to the medical treatment they need to live and thrive, has been saved.

In my opinion, an older child who has lost their family and has given up hope of being loved or getting an education or having much of a life at all, who gets adopted and gets love and a family and gets to go to school and “be a kid”, has been saved.

In my opinion any child who is alone in the world for whatever reason, that finds love and family and a place to belong through adoption, has been saved.


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