Why Adopt Internationally

When Josh and I started talking about adoption, we always talked about doing it through Foster-to-Adopt.  There are SO MANY children in foster care that desperately need loving families to give them safe homes forever.  What we don't hear much about is the fate of orphan overseas...in countries like Eastern Europe, China, Ethiopia, the list goes on.  Below I have begun to gather information that illustrated just how bad orphan life can be.  Babies with Cerebral palsy or spina bifida left in lying rooms in cribs for their entire lives!!!!  Infants placed in high chairs with buckets underneath to catch waste!  Children abandoned because of differences or special needs and not enough families stepping up to save their lives.  This barely touches the tip of the iceberg for adopting overseas.

Here are some websites to visit for more information:

•  This is from the Eli project, they have some great stats for special needs as wells as 'typical' orphans and their fate.   http://www.eliproject.org/why-adopt/special-needs-orphans/
• Stand for Life blog discusses the horrible reality of life in an orphanage for so many http://www.standforlife.net/2012/02/eastern-european-orphans-horrible-truth.html
• This website advocates for special needs adoptions!  http://www.reecesrainbow.com/

Region	Number of Total Orphans	Potential Number of children with Down Syndrome	Number who could be saved by only 1% of the Christian population in the US
Eastern Europe	1.5 million	2046	205
Asia	3,572,000	4873	487
Russia	700,000	955	96

(statistics from Families of Promise, 2000)

That chart was taken from the Reece's Rainbow website under the tab for Staggering Statistics...isn't it heartbreaking. 

So you want some reasons for why adopting a special needs baby over a 'typical' baby?  Let's just say you were born in Russia or China maybe and you had Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, a cleft palate, or a physical deformity.  Your family would most likely abandon you at the hospital. If you disability wasn't notice till later, you would be abandoned later...maybe at 2?  From there you would be place in the baby orphanage to live until the age of 4 or 5.  Your needs may be met, you might be cared for, but you may become extremely malnourished and dehydrated, experience little to no comfort from staff, maybe have your diaper change once or twice a day.  Once you hit 4 or 5, you would be sent to live in a mental institution since the older children orphanage is not equipped to handle your special needs.  If you haven't been adopted by this point, your chances diminish significantly.  You, and the other children sent to the institution, will be graded and put together depending on that grade.  If you are unable to walk, you may be sent to the lying down room...where you will literally spend your entire life lying in a crib.  Most children die within the first year of being here. Due to lack of funding, basic needs aren't always met.  The child is basically waiting to die. 

God did not create children to grow up like this...he created family to love, nurture, and care for the blessings that are our children.  Knowing the fate of these beautiful children is what drew me in and placed a heavy burden on my heart.  I pray for Nolan and other's like him all day every day that their mommy can go get  them and bring them home. 



These children are far to old to be in cribs...but this is their life...this is all they will ever know...they probably can't feed themselves or use the potty.  Not because they physically can't, but because they were never given the opportunity to learn.

 





I have no words for the sadness I feel when I look at this picture...

Look at their lifeless eyes...no joy, no sparkle, just shells of innocent babies.  They don't cry because they have learned that no one will be there to comfort them.  How can we leave them there?  Is you son or daughter waiting for you in a world so far away?