{"id":191,"date":"2009-10-16T09:42:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-16T09:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2009\/10\/adoption.html"},"modified":"2009-10-16T09:42:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-16T09:42:00","slug":"adoption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/10\/adoption.html","title":{"rendered":"Adoption?"},"content":{"rendered":"
I would like to have another biological child, and can argue that the desire is good. Children are a gift from God, after all (See <\/span>Psalm 127:3<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And yet, there are millions of orphans in the world. And over and over again, Biblical writers urge those of us who follow God to take care of the widows and the orphans (See <\/span>James 1:27<\/span><\/a>). If there’s anything I believe, it is that I am to participate in changing the “economy” of the world, I am to participate in caring for the “least” of these (<\/span>Matthew 25:40<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
So why do I still want a child that bears my own genetic makeup, along with Peter’s?<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Whenever I try to get pregnant, I “risk” conceiving another child with Down syndrome, and my “risk” is higher than average (1 in 100, and rising as I age). While I would welcome another child with Down syndrome, I would nonetheless be contributing to rising medical costs. Penny is quite healthy, and yet we still see at least four specialists a year that we probably wouldn’t see if she didn’t have Ds, not to mention the tax dollars expended on her quite specialized education.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Why not adopt?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Well, adoption can cost a lot of money too. And it can take years. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I’ve thought about these things in the abstract for a long while. But recently, friends of ours decided to adopt two children from Ethiopia after a long struggle with infertility. They tell their story with honesty and beauty, and I commend it to you. For their blog, click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I don’t have answers. But I need to face the question: Why do I want biological children when there are particular risks in my case, and particular costs, and there are children “out there” in need?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I would like to have another biological child, and can argue that the desire is good. Children are a gift from God, after all (See Psalm 127:3). And yet, there are millions of orphans in the world. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}