A boy adopted from Ethiopia graduates from West Point. A little girl adopted from India is murdered by her father. Our founder’s children, adopted from Haiti, are teenagers who are flourishing. An adoptive mother sends her young son on a plane by himself back to Russia.
So, what’s the truth about adoption? Most everyone in the adoption circle understandably views adoption through their own personal lens. The tendency is to take one’s story and generalize it as the norm. Our personal experiences skew our perspective of the bigger picture.
Perhaps we can all widen our lens and find common ground. Adoption is flawed; corruption exists. Adoptive parents may be ill-prepared. The adopted child may never fully adapt to a new life.
The flip side of the coin, and we believe the much more common side, is that adoption is a wonderful alternative for children without parents. Alternative to what? To being raised in an institution. Widespread awareness of the detrimental impact of children languishing in institutions reinforces the intuitive notion that children belong in families.
Families provide the adopted child security, nurture, love, permanence, a sense of belonging, the knowledge of being valued, and the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Because of compassionate caregivers, some institutions make noble attempts to nurture the children in their care, but these efforts fall woefully short when compared to the benefits of growing up in a family.
From the adoptive parents’ standpoint, adoption is a picture of perseverance. I’ve often heard adoptive parents characterized as a bit crazy. Crazy to disrupt their comfortable lives by bringing an older child, a disabled child, a sibling group of four into their home.
What is the outcome? Children who now have hope, whose dreams can become a reality. Parents who have richer lives because they took a risk, a step of faith.
Both Ends Believing shares the dreams of these children and these parents. We believe every child should have the opportunity a loving family can provide. The orphan problem can be solved and BEB offers a critical part of the solution – a new, innovative, yet proven, approach. We know our technology initiative can drive and influence a global collaborative effort to make our shared vision a reality.
As we partner with countries all over the world, together we seek to change the trajectory of children’s lives. Collectively, we visualize the cries of orphans becoming shouts of joy as they run into the outstretched arms of loving parents. Join with Both Ends Believing in helping us transform children’s lives.
Recent Comments