Why India? We get asked this a lot as we're going through the process. God really laid India on our hearts as a place to adopt, even before we were married. When we were dating, we went to Bethlehem Baptist Church every Sunday. We'd go to the 9 a.m. service (Luke's choice) and then he would volunteer in the book store and I would volunteer in the baby nursery. One of the children in the nursery each week was a little boy from India named Jeremy. I absolutely loved him. Even then, I think God was preparing us to go through this long journey with our focus on India.
This past winter we paused our adoption process because there was a call for Minnesota families to get involved in the foster care process. There was specifically a critical need for foster care parents for infants. Our neighbor is a supervisor for Hennepin County Child Protection Services and she works tirelessly to care for and protect these children. Many who have been through so much in their young lives, through no fault of their own. We wanted to support her efforts and not feel like we were turning our backs to the children right in front of us.
However, after a lot of meetings and guidance from other foster and adoptive families, we continued on the India track. There were many different reasons, but one of the main ones has been that even if a child is born into really terrible circumstances in the United States, there is hope they can overcome their past. If a child, especially a girl, is born in the slums of Calcutta, there is very little hope that she will be able to rise out of her circumstances.
A 2015 study done by a human rights organization estimates there are 20 million orphans in India. Some even estimate up to 30 million. Up until last year, very few were eligible to be adopted (only 2500 in 2014) and very few were eligible for foreign adoption (only 271). That changed in 2015 when a new minister of women and children development came forward with a belief that every child should have a home. They started modeling their registry after China's Central Registry. They started to get more streamlined with the paperwork and have committed to pushing adoptions through faster. All of these things will hopefully help, but in the meantime, there is such a need for adoptive families. International adoption is costly and time consuming, but hopefully these changes will encourage others to explore the process.
So, here we are. We have so appreciated all the insight and guidance our friends and acquaintances, who have gone through the foster/adoption process, have shared with us as we have sought answers to tough questions. It's a group effort to get through it all!
However, after a lot of meetings and guidance from other foster and adoptive families, we continued on the India track. There were many different reasons, but one of the main ones has been that even if a child is born into really terrible circumstances in the United States, there is hope they can overcome their past. If a child, especially a girl, is born in the slums of Calcutta, there is very little hope that she will be able to rise out of her circumstances.
A 2015 study done by a human rights organization estimates there are 20 million orphans in India. Some even estimate up to 30 million. Up until last year, very few were eligible to be adopted (only 2500 in 2014) and very few were eligible for foreign adoption (only 271). That changed in 2015 when a new minister of women and children development came forward with a belief that every child should have a home. They started modeling their registry after China's Central Registry. They started to get more streamlined with the paperwork and have committed to pushing adoptions through faster. All of these things will hopefully help, but in the meantime, there is such a need for adoptive families. International adoption is costly and time consuming, but hopefully these changes will encourage others to explore the process.
So, here we are. We have so appreciated all the insight and guidance our friends and acquaintances, who have gone through the foster/adoption process, have shared with us as we have sought answers to tough questions. It's a group effort to get through it all!
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