Well, happy November...and happy national adoption awareness month! Perfect time to dust off the blog and pick up our series of the "whys of adoption". If you missed my first post, you can check it out here.
Another question we're often asked is, "Why international adoption?" "Why Ind*a?"
To be quite honest, international adoption has always been on my heart. I can't quite explain to you why, but it's just a desire that God has placed there. I think the question behind this, that many people really want to know is why we chose international adoption over domestic adoption.
I know there is a need here in the US, but we also must not ignore the fact that there is a need outside of the US as well. God does not see borders or race, he sees HIS children. And he calls us in James 1:27 to care for them. Some are called to care for those children right here in the US, and he calls others to care for orphans in China, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Uganda, Korea, Haiti, Kenya, or in our case, Ind*a.
31 million is a HUGE number. The sad thing is that's the estimated amount of orphans in Ind*ia. The need for loving forever families is so great. From 1999 to 2013 there were only a total of 5,257 Indi*an adoptions to the US. In 2013, there were only 119 Ind*an adoption to the US, which is down from the previous year. These statistics break my heart.
Since I'm a total Netflix documentary nerd, I urge your to watch two eye-opening (and heart-wrenching) documentaries. The first is Mother India and it shares the stories of 25 orphaned and /or abandoned children in southern Ind*a and gives us a peek into their daily lives and what it takes to survive. The second documentary is hard to watch. And I mean, hard. It will break your heart into a million little pieces. It's a Girl reveals the sad issue of gendercide in both China and Ind*a.
With that being said, there are so many things that have drawn us to Ind*a. Obviously, God being one of them (and the most important in our book), the culture, the people we've met from this country, the food, the music, the beautiful children. There are really so many things we love about Indi*a and we can't wait to have a little piece of that country in our home!
I hope that answers some questions for you! Part 3 we'll discuss more common questions...why does adoption cost so much, and why does it take so long?!
