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Well, people have been asking me for it, so there you have it. :-) We dropped 2 spots this month on the overall waiting list.
Normally now would be the point where I would tell you how much longer I think we will wait, or how I am trying to be patient despite my anxiousness. But today, I'm not going to do that. My thoughts are definitely changing about the wait this time around thanks to some things over the last few days.
But before I go into why I'm suddenly now at peace with our wait, I have to give you all a little disclaimer first: I am aware that for the most part, I make this blog a place of positivity regarding all things adoption. The reason I do this is because I believe it has been put on my heart to be an advocate for the fatherless. The orphan crisis is a world-wide problem, and we need more people (that are able and willing of course) to consider adopting our world's orphaned children. So, because of that, I do try to make this blog one of my itty bitty efforts to encourage more people to adopt. It's typically filled with positive adoption stories, photos and experiences to help articulate that message. But if I only wrote about just the positive adoption "stuff," I would be doing everyone reading a great disservice. There's some real heartbreaking stuff in adoption that just. plain. sucks.
Over the last few days I have been reading and watching a lot about adoption to re-educate myself on the painful realities that exist within it. I can tell you that it is incredibly difficult to see such a Godly thing like adoption have corruption in it the way that it does sometimes. This is the truth and we can't just pretend it's not. I know I've said this before, but the harsh reality is that people sell kids to make money and it happens all over, even right here in America. Ethiopia of course is no exception to that. Actually, I would assume that because of the lack of education available there, it is probably more likely to happen in a country like Ethiopia than a lot of other places.
I know what I've been reading and watching lately about trafficking is not the picture of all adoptions, and may even highlight just one or two situations out of thousands upon thousands of good, ethical ones. It absolutely breaks my heart watching and reading what can go on when greed and deceit starts interfering with God's work.
But I always come back and ask the question, "So what do we do about it?" Do we sit back and simply say, "I refuse to adopt because of the corruption in this world!" Well, let's think about that for a second: Does that really solve the problem of corruption in adoption or the orphan crisis?
No.
If we stopped all adoptions, the orphans don't go away or stop showing up. The number of orphans would continue to rise, forcing them to live in even worse conditions than they already do because of overpopulation in orphanages and institutions. Not adopting is not the answer.
But since that plan obviously doesn't work, should we then say, "Let's just send all the birth families of these orphans money instead, then they will be able to take care of their children and won't have to relinquish them."
Nope, not convinced this will work either.
Of course there are many great organizations out there you can support, but I still just don't think a mass outpouring of money into places like Ethiopia will work. If we know corruption is happening when children are involved, let's take them out and see what happens when there's just money floating around. We will likely have a situation that is far worse. I would bet that a few of the educated people will find a way to manipulate and scheme to get the donations before many (or all) of the birth families receive it. I also have a perfect example of this, in talking with my best friend about this, she mentioned a time several years back right before she left on a mission trip. The group she was with sent gifts and toys to the orphanage they would be visiting before they left, but when they arrived, the children never received anything that had been sent. It had been stolen to be sold at the markets. I have absolutely no doubt this would happen if we just simply, "send them the money we would have used for adoption."
So, what's the solution? I really don't think there is a perfect one. All I know is that adoption is a beautiful thing, I know and feel that in my heart, and God's word reassures me of this. So if it takes 3 days or 3 months or even 3 years for an orphaned child to need our home, then I will just wait as patiently as possible for that.
Until next time...
