November is National Adoption Month and presents us with an opportunity to focus on the need to promote and consider the option of adoption.
For women facing an unexpected pregnancy, adoption is a life-affirming alternative that both she and her baby can live with. The option of adoption opens a plethora of choices for women. She can choose a closed or open adoption – or anything in-between. The expectant mom has options and the ability to make a placement plan for her child: she can choose an adoptive family with a specific religion, location, or family size. And she has the option of being involved in the baby’s life. Additionally, the expectant mother can choose to work with an adoption agency that cares for her needs during the pregnancy and post-placement. It is critical that agencies provide post-placement care and counseling for birth mothers.
Another wonderful avenue of adoption is through the foster care system. This simple focus is providing impressive results.
Louisiana has set a record for the most foster care adoptions during the past year. The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services announced that 912 children were placed in permanent homes. Not only is adoption life-changing for the child, it provides untold blessings for families that open their hearts and homes to children who need a forever family.
Maybe it’s something in the South…
The Tampa Bay area is also getting noticed for their efforts and success toward the permanent placement of foster kids. They have changed the lives of 60 children by matching them with forever homes.
The stability of a permanent family provides blessings that you and I routinely take for granted. For example, a stable family affords a safe and secure environment where abuse and addiction are only a memory, which instills hope and confidence in children. There is food on the table, clothes to wear and most importantly of all, someone who unconditionally loves them for the rest of their lives.
Kathryn Mccuistion Harkender is a living, breathing testimony for foster care adoption. She has experienced both worlds of foster care and permanency. Adoption gave Kathryn more than a loving family. It gave her the opportunity to serve her nation in the Army and later pursue an education. She is now a family nurse practitioner in the Dayton area. Kathryn is also able to give back to her community by coaching pee wee cheerleading.
Kathryn wants people to know that foster care adoption is a “beautiful thing.” She added, “Because of my placement, I was able to live a healthy safe life.”
Adoption is a blessing that will positively impact future generations. Just like saying no to abortion, adoption not only changes the trajectory of the lives involved, it potentially opens unlimited possibilities for their children and grandchildren.
Is there room in your heart and home for a child who desperately needs a forever family? Please give prayerful consideration to adoption, which can bless everyone involved. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a focus on adoption and Thanksgiving are in the same month.
If you feel God’s gentle whisper in your ear, contact your local foster care agency today to see if expanding your family is in your future.
Sincerely for LIFE,
“Adoption is an Option” should be on billboards every where. Beautiful story.
Over 30 years ago, when my 3 birth-children were very young, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, stage 4. It had already taken over my bone marrow and was present throughout my body. I had been clueless. The oncologist told me I had 8 months to live, but assured me that I would not be in pain, and that they could keep me comfortable. I wondered just how “they” could keep a mother of 3 young children “comfortable”, but I was too overcome to argue. My husband was a paper maker, and we had already been worrying about the rumors that GP was moving out, most likely closing down the mill. A couple of months later, my husband had just come home from the 11:00pm to 7:00am shift and answered the phone, which was ringing. It was for him, calling him back in to work for a meeting. He said, “I think that means the mill is closing.” I noticed the calendar by the door said it was March 19, the Feast of St Joseph the Worker. That was my husband’s Confirmation Patron Saint and also the Patron of all workers, and of all fathers. I showed him the date, and told him we didn’t need to worry. As it turned out, the mill was sold and all the workers kept their jobs. We went to St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal to thank my husband’s Patron for saving his job. While there, one of the rectors, hearing our story, told me to go to the crypt of (then) Blessed Andre, and ask him to intercede for a miracle regarding my cancer. I told the rector (indeed argued with him for some time) that I wasn’t here to ask for another favor, but only to give thanks for the one we had already received. The rector prevailed, and I went to the crypt to pray, thus, “Dear Blessed Andre, I didn’t plan on coming to your crypt. I came here to venerate St Joseph, and to thank him for a miracle that we just received. However, at the urging of one of the rectors and not wanting to be rude to him, I am here now, asking that you intercede with Good St Joseph to ask God to heal my cancer and let me live to raise my children.” A couple of days after we returned home, I received a phone call from one of my sisters telling me about a non-Hodgkins Lymphoma protocol at Dana Farber Cancer Treatment Center in Cambridge, MA that was about to start and had room for one more subject, who had to have less than 6 months left to live, had never experienced a remission, and some other caveats that fit me. I ended up being a subject in this experiment, and more than 30 years later, I am still cancer free and a grandmother. I was particularly grateful that our 3 birth children did not have to be separated from one another after losing their mother while their father worked a southern-swing schedule. We finally adopted 3 more siblings in danger of separation, having already been separated from their mother, whose parental rights had been terminated because of heavy, repeated drug use. Now, the youngest of these children is at the University of Mary in North Dakota, the oldest is a drummer with the top second grade pipe band in the world, the second works at a resort hotel and restaurant. We love our children, birth and adopted, and are grateful to God for them.
As a foster care parent for over 10 years in California I know the joy it is to have teenagerd in my home and how much it also hurt when they had to leave. You cannot help getting close. But, you know that is the reason most of them are in foster care, hoping to return home under better conditions than they left. Prayer still works.
I think it’s wonderful that you are fostering these children. Is there an age limit on being a foster parent?
Rose, thank you for your question. While the legal minimum age to foster is 18, there is no upper age limit.