When we knew that God wanted our family to adopt, the next question was... Domestic or International? I know several family and friends have asked us "Why Russia?" And so we wanted to try to answer that question.
Domestic adoptions can cost less money because you don't have international travel and country program fees involved. However, with our family situation of having 4 children already, the prospects of being chosen by a birth mother to adopt her baby are very rare. We asked several agencies this question and they kept discouraging us from pursuing a domestic adoption (that is, a child already in the U.S.). Most families in our situation pursue international adoptions.
So, with that settled in our minds, the next step was to see which countries we qualified to adopt from. Each country has its own criteria for adoptive parents. This can include income requirements, travel requirements, and number of children already in the home. Once we narrowed it down, there were only 2 countries still on our short list. And for a variety of reasons, we felt the Lord directing us to Russia.
Domestic adoptions can cost less money because you don't have international travel and country program fees involved. However, with our family situation of having 4 children already, the prospects of being chosen by a birth mother to adopt her baby are very rare. We asked several agencies this question and they kept discouraging us from pursuing a domestic adoption (that is, a child already in the U.S.). Most families in our situation pursue international adoptions.
So, with that settled in our minds, the next step was to see which countries we qualified to adopt from. Each country has its own criteria for adoptive parents. This can include income requirements, travel requirements, and number of children already in the home. Once we narrowed it down, there were only 2 countries still on our short list. And for a variety of reasons, we felt the Lord directing us to Russia.
As many of you know, our youngest is now 4 years old, so we are requesting a little girl between the ages of 0-4. Some countries only had children ages 8+ available for adoption, and we just didn't feel comfortable rearranging our children's birth orders. This way, the newest addition to the family will be the youngest, as in a birth.
We also felt burdened when we learned about the prospects facing children in Russia once they age out of the system. According to How to Help Orphans: “In Ukraine and Russia 10% -15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18, 60% of the girls are lured into prostitution, 70% of the boys become hardened criminals. Another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years.”
We also felt burdened when we learned about the prospects facing children in Russia once they age out of the system. According to How to Help Orphans: “In Ukraine and Russia 10% -15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18, 60% of the girls are lured into prostitution, 70% of the boys become hardened criminals. Another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years.”
We do know that the gospel is for every people, tribe, language, and nation. Can you imagine the scene in heaven?
"...a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and bring out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Amen!
"...a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and bring out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Amen!
RSS Feed
