Although my husband and I have a biological child and are perfectly capable of having a bunch more, we’ve always wanted to bring one or two children into our home via adoption.
I know everyone gets a little misty-eyed when they see the commercials of children from Africa with swollen bellies or even footage of needy and displaced kids in our own country that just want a place to call home.
But I get more than misty-eyed. I become absolutely determined to remove at least one these kids off the street--but I simply can’t afford it.
Case in point. After the huge earthquake in China last year, we saw reports on the news that kids were literally starving in the streets because their parents were dead and no one would take them into their home.
So without thinking I went online and tried to find out how to adopt a little boy or girl that needed help. Well apparently there were a whole slew of qualifications you had to meet in order to adopt a displaced earthquake victim.
What were some of those requirements you may ask?
Well for starters, you had to be 30. I am 25 and my husband is 28. And although we’re already parents and perfectly mature enough to care for a child, China didn’t feel the same way.
Not to mention China deems you ineligible for a child if you’ve ever been treated for any form of mental disorder—and because I’ve been treated for panic attacks in the past, that also threw me out of the running (which is really pathetic when you compare a few panic attacks here and there to a child DYING on the streets!).
And how can I forget the thousands of dollars it would have cost me just to get through the formalities! So needless to say, my adoption plans came to a screeching halt.
Then just last week I heard a story from a former missionary that spent a year in the African desert. She tearfully explained that while she was there, two small children threw themselves in front of her car because they were so hungry and didn’t want to live anymore.
Thankfully she was able to swerve and avoid killing these kids (and from what I understand they helped them get some temporary food and shelter), but she said there are plenty more orphaned kids out there desperate for help.
So again, thinking I could take some action and bring home one of these orphans, I took to the internet. Turns out you need a large sum of money to adopt an orphan from Africa (in upwards of $30,000!) so I was out of luck again.
Now I’m left scratching my head wondering just how many of these poor kids would have homes if adopting a child didn’t cost so much and there weren’t so many crazy restrictions. I understand there are some costs associated with adoption (like screening for pedophiles, etc.), but It blows my mind that these governments would rather watch children die on the streets than lower their price tag.
Hopefully one day this process will become affordable so middle-class Americans won't be forced to take out equity lines or save up for years on end to adopt a child in need. Until then, my husband and I stay hopeful that we’ll be blessed someday to take an orphaned child into our home.
This is an original post to New Jersey Moms Blog. When she's not up to her eyeballs working on copywriting or marketing campaigns for lawyers, Amber can be found on her own neglected blog, Jerseymomma.com or as @jerseymomma on Twitter.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr
Recent Comments