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Sara Luepschen
ENC 2135
17 July 2017
Show Hope
Adoption is an opportunity to give life to a child that is without a permanent home and lacking a source of unconditional love. It is an expansion of the family and of the heart. In 2015, there were 140 million children in the world that were considered orphans, left parentless or with parents that were unable or unwilling to care for them (“Orphans”). The number since then has only grown and will continue to grow, due to disease and war, unless there is an increase in the number of capable families that are willing to accept a child into their home.
I have had the chance to personally experience the wondrous thing that adoption is, by following the adoption journey of the Altman family. My brother in law, Matthew Altman, has a little sister, Jaelynn, who was adopted from China. In 2011, Matthew’s sister, Katie, met Jaelynn while working in one of China’s rare special needs orphanages during a mission trip. This orphanage was incredibly unique as it is run by the organization created by the very famous Christian singer, Stephen Curtis Chapman. This organization is called Show Hope, which provides grants and assistance to families that are trying to adopt orphans. In addition, they do all that they can to care for orphans while still living in their orphanages (Altman, interview).
Show Hope states that their mission is “…dedicated to restoring hope to millions of children living as orphans by breaking down barriers between waiting children and loving families. As we work to restore hope, we strive to meet these needs by supporting Care Centers in China that provide loving, attentive care for children with acute medical and special needs. More than 2,300 children have received care at these Care Centers” (Show Hope, “Our Work”). It is obvious that this non-profit is working for the benefit of the fatherless and motherless children of the world. Show Hope wants to bring parents and children together, creating a “forever family” as they call it.
The Altman family began the adoption process knowing there would be challenges, especially financial ones as international adoptions can be pricey. The adoption costed approximately $26,000. That number felt daunting to them, but they were trusting in God to provide for them (Altman, interview). It is much more expensive to adopt outside of the United States due to transportation and having to work with agencies from other countries. Professor Efrat states, “Beyond the fees the adoption agency charges, prospective parents usually incur travel, lodging, and transportation expenses as well as legal and administrative costs. In addition to these costs, the lengthy and uncertain process exacts an emotional cost” (Efrat, 617). This shows that there is so much more to the cost of adoption than that black and white number. The costs can be extensive and the families are usually not aware of the full cost until the surprise charges pop out at them.
Fortunately, in the Altman’s situation, many individuals, organizations, and churches contributed to make the adoption possible. They, on their own, hosted several fundraisers, such as spaghetti dinners, and saved every penny they possibly could. Their extended family held yard sales and sold t-shirts. There are also government statutes in place that assists as “a federal adoption tax credit knocks $5,000 off your tax bill for each child you adopt ($6,000 for a "special needs" or "hard-to-place" child)” (Gallagher). This is a major incentive to families that are wanting to adopt, but that are wary of the financial burden. It even encourages the adoption of special needs children, which have more trouble being adopted than other kids.
The biggest financial relief came to them when the organization Show Hope gifted them with a grant that helped significantly. It is because of this groups contribution to the adoption cost that the Altman family was able to bring Jaelynn home without incurring thousands of dollars of debt (Altman, interview).
Matt tells me that once they went through the adoption process they felt connected with this whole new group of people. They feel there is encouragement and knowledge found within these people that have been on a similar journey to them. Adoption is a gift like no other, and Matt tells me it is rewarding beyond belief. Matt said, “There is not a doubt in any of our hearts that Jaeylnn is a part of our family. We just had to wait a little bit longer to meet her” (Altman, interview).
The adoption community is large and ever-growing, seeing as approximately “…135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year” (“Fact Sheet”). That number only includes the United States adoptions so there are guaranteed to be even more internationally. These families that have chosen to adopt certainly share a unique bond.
Quotes to still be placed in the body paragraphs:
“…parents are—by far— the best form of protection we can give children who need it. An institution won’t agonize over when to step in and when to give a child a little bit more hope, nurturing, or encouragement. Institutions cannot love like parents can” (“Adoption: The Best Form of Protection”).
“I know you've heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You've heard about a place called home
But there doesn't seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream
Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
And somewhere while you're sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
When love takes you in it takes you in for good” (Chapman).
“To achieve this goal, the government has been “calling on” each couple of the dominant Han ethnicity to have only one child.” (Gann, 75)
“ties to international adoption have been deeply entrenched through central and local ties to international adoption agencies and to international nonprofit charitable foundations, some of which are organized and funded by foreign adoptive parents, who have become widely involved in funding various orphanage and foster care programs.” (Johnson, 394)