Have you ever heard of Bethany Christian Services? They are a large Christian adoption agency in the USA and internationally, working hard to find good homes for babies. In this interview I visit my local branch in Latham, NY and speak with adoption specialist Renee Rogowski about how adoptions work. I’m so impressed by the work she does and how Bethany provides an alternative to abortion in our country. In fact, Christian couples have signed up throughout the US to adopt children born with drug addictions, disabilities, birth defects, and even babies who won’t live beyond a year! Although you don’t hear about this in the news, so many are self-sacrificially putting into practice the teachings of Jesus by loving and investing in these vulnerable children.
—— Links ——
- Visit Bethany Christian Services for more information about adopting, foster care, and other related services
- Contact Renee Rogowski at the Albany branch of Bethany
- See also Interview 38: Advocating for the Unborn (Kirk Walden)
- Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library
I listened to the Bethany Christian Services podcast and quite frankly I was very shocked and saddened.
I googled orphans and found this statistic
“Most people are shocked to discover there are 153 million orphans worldwide. According to UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), if orphans were a country of their own, the population would rank 9th in the world—ahead of Russia.”
Given these statistics and considering the conversation you had with Renee, where the level of selection is more like a very sophisticated dating service, where even the history of cancer in the family of the mother giving up her child is evaluated by the adopting parents, or where the mother giving up her child for adoption considers if an older brother is going to be available for the new adopted child, etc etc, I can’t help but think something is seriously wrong.
At the risk of sounding very harsh, given the inordinate number of children needing placement services according to UNICEF, I think the services of a high end adoption center such as Bethany Christian Services are absolutely ridiculous, and that their prime market must be with the very exclusively rich and famous. This model where the adopting parents can expect to pay @$35,000 for an international adoption, and almost just as much for a local or domestic at @$30,000, because as Renee explained, she follows the child until her or she is 18 years old, is completely unnecessary, and a waste of time, money, and other valuable resources.
I realize that to some I am sounding very judgmental, and I doubt you will post my comment, which is fine. But honestly I had to stop listening to this podcast about 3/4 through because I was finding myself getting very angry by what I was hearing.
Something is definitely upside down in the world of adoption and my heart goes out to all the children that need to be adopted versus a totally ridiculous adoption system, it sounds like not just in the U.S. but worldwide.
Don’t get me wrong I am totally for safe adoptions and ensuring that the adopting parents have solid morals and an upright character. Perhaps there was a time when very stringent adoption screening processes were necessary, like in the 1800’s where some might be motivated to adopt simply for selfish or abusive reasons where another child only meant another farm laborer, or in the early 19th century when there were no child labor laws, but in this day and age where every child, at least in the U.S., is required by law to attend school, where any child abuse would be most likely be spotted and reported by teachers- an elaborate or severe screening process seems totally unnecessary and a waste of resources and money. How many hard working middle class parents with a child or two (probably the best environment to place a child) who would consider adopting a child, can afford to pay the ridiculous price of $30,000?
I am not sure what I personally can do to have a meaningful impact to change what appears to be a system that works against getting as many needy, and perhaps oppressed children adopted as possible. If anyone is familiar with what can be done please speak up.