(Author: Jason Kovacs)
Jason Kovacs is the Director of Ministry Development for The ABBA Fund. He also blogs about orphan care and adoption and is on the steering committee for the Together for Adoption Conference.
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Like every other dad, the day I became a father for the first time was unforgettable. My wife and I were a happy young couple waiting to adopt our first child. Visions of a beautiful baby filled our minds.We weren't sure if we would be matched with a birthmother a few months prior to the due-date or if we would get a phone call that a baby had been born and the brave young mother was ready to immediately place her child for adoption.
Months went by and we finally got a phone call, but it wasn't for a baby.
God had a two-year old boy and an eight-month old girl for us. The social worker asked if we were interested and we said "Yes!" and drove down to Florida to meet our children.
At the adoption agency, the first person I met was my son toddling around the corner. He walked up to me and grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. He wanted out of that place!
What I believe he wanted even more than that was a daddy.
That is the case today with millions of children around the world. UNICEF estimates that there are over 132 million orphans in the world today living without a permanent family. In the United States alone, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says, there are over 129,000 children waiting for a daddy and mommy. There are also many mothers with unexpected pregnancies who want to choose adoption instead of abortion.
Many of the children overseas must fight all by themselves for their very lives. Others are cared for in orphanages. The orphaned children in America will fight for their futures as well: roughly 2% will receive a university degree and 84% will have their own children within a few years of aging out of the foster-care system (source).
With all these parentless children, it is no side note that God is a "Father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). He has made adoption the apex of the Gospel. His spiritual enemies are now his very sons and daughters through the Cross.
And God calls us, his adopted family, to be a part of his care for the fatherless. At the core of God's nature is a Father's heart that we are to reflect. Scripture is clear that practical care for orphans is fundamental to the mission of the church.
In Psalm 10:18 we are commanded to "do justice to the fatherless." And Isaiah tells us to "Defend the cause of the fatherless" (1:17). James writes, "religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans…in their affliction" (1:27).
Surely this means not only caring temporarily for the needs of orphans, but also permanently caring for them through adoption.
We have an incredible opportunity in adoption to live out God's compassion and so eternally change the life of a child.
A year after we adopted, my wife gave birth to our third child, a beautiful baby girl. The wonder and beauty of becoming a parent through birth and adoption are incomparable and yet each is just as sweet and amazing and wonderful.
I encourage any of you who are praying about growing your family to consider adoption as a way of magnifying the "Father of the fatherless."
And for those of you who aren't called to adopt there many other ways to care for orphans such as foster-care, financially supporting those who are adopting, visiting orphanages, sponsoring a child, and praying.
The question will never be whether you should care for orphans. The question is how you will care for them and in doing so reflect the compassion of God for the least of these.
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If you are interested in knowing more about adoption and orphan care please visit Cry of the Orphan.
If you would like information on how you can financially help bring children into Christian homes or start an adoption fund at your church, please visit The ABBA Fund.
For information on the connection between our adoption by God and our adoption of children please visit Together for Adoption. We will be hosting our first conference on adoption this November.
