Children Are Waiting

by Kristin Darr

Children waiting in foster care need loving families, and they deserve the best.

Brent enjoys football, Mallory loves cooking, and Brandon likes art.  Yet, more than anything else each of these children would love to have a forever family. 

Brent, Mallory, and Brandon are just a handful of the 127,000 children in our foster care system who are waiting for loving families.  Most of these kids are older and have spent years in foster care.  Some have learning disabilities and others have handicaps.  Many of them will outgrow the foster care system without ever having had a mother or a father.  Clearly, we must do something to help these hurting kids. 

In response to the large number of children in foster care, some liberal organizations have suggested that same-sex couples be allowed to adopt.  But, careful thought about the purpose of adoption and the needs of children raises serious concerns about this radical idea.

Adoption is meant to serve the best interest of children.  And, a mountain of social science evidence shows that children fare best in every important measure when raised in married, mother-father households.  Children waiting in foster care, who may have been abused, neglected, or abandoned, deserve the best.  These vulnerable kids desperately need the stability and security of married, mother-father homes.  

In contrast evidence on the harmful consequences of alternative family structures indicates that homes with unmarried couples – both heterosexual and homosexual – are not the best for children.  A crowded foster care system doesn’t mean that we need same-sex adoption.  It means that we need married mothers and fathers to pursue adoption.

Right now, there are more than 450 married couples in the U.S. for each child waiting to be adopted out of foster care.  There are more than 3 places of worship in the U.S. for each child who needs a home.  That means if just one married couple from every 3 places of worship pursued adoption, every child in foster care would receive a loving family.  Clearly, there are more than enough married, mother-father homes for all of the children waiting for loving families.

It’s time for the Church to step up and provide America’s most vulnerable children the families they need to thrive.  One exciting effort to engage the body of Christ is Focus on the Family’s nationwide Orphan Care Initiative, which aims to inspire, equip, and engage the body of Christ to bring children into loving homes.  We’ve also launched a collaborative project in Colorado called “Wait No More, Finding Families for Waiting Kids” to raise awareness about the needs of kids in foster care for a mom and a dad.  Through these and other initiatives, Brent, Mallory, and Brandon just might find the loving families they’re waiting for. 

Kristin Darr is the Associate Analyst for Adoption Policy at Focus on the Family

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