I know a young Christian couple that is considering adoption. They would like to adopt a child less than one year old. They would be excellent parents. Any suggestions or thoughts? Please feel free to respond to my email address.

Faris

-- Anonymous, December 17, 2000

Answers

My wife and I just completed the adoption of a little boy.He was four when we got him he is six now.It took 2 years to complete all the paper work and interviews.We went through the Florida department of child and family services.It is almost imposible to get a child as young as you want through a social agency.if you want a baby you most go through a lawyer or know a mother who wants to give up her child.It is very expensive,up to $30,000.We could not aford such a sum and therefore had to go the method we did.

-- Anonymous, December 18, 2000

Jim, are you any relation to Knofel Staton?

-- Anonymous, December 18, 2000

Jim

Thanks for your reply. The couple I mentioned is considering overseas adoption. They are looking at different countries at this time. No doubt there will be a lot of snags along the way if this is what they choose.

My wife and I wish we had adopted children when we were much younger. Raising our daughter has been our greatest joy. We wish we had adopted at least 2 children.

I have prayed that the Lord will bless you, your wife and your son in the years ahead.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2000

Faris,

There is one other answer. If Darrell Combs were to pop in on this, I know he could provide more light on this subject.

Every year there are 100s of babies born (usually of color) to women who have problems (drug addiction, etc). These "crack" babies can sometimes be a real challenge for adoptive parents - but what child isn't in some way or another? They need good Christian homes like any child does and I think it behooves us, as Christians, to do what we can to help. If abortion is to be limited someday, we must pick up the pace in providing homes for ALL the children that God blesses the world with.

They might try contacting area hospitals and Child Protection Services for help in finding such children. There are plenty of them out there, it's just a matter of finding the right connection.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2000

Thanks for the heads up, Mark.

We have adopted three children ... all at birth. The "cheapest" was just under $2000 ... the "most expensive" was just at $4000. The first two were adopted in Florida, while we lived in Florida. The last (and most expensive) was adopted from Florida while we lived in South Carolina. The extra costs involved state-to-state stuff that we didn't have to fool with before.

All three children are black ... one Jamaican/American, and two Afro/American. We never set out to adopt black children ... that's just the way God worked it out in our lives. It would have been very expensive for us to hold out for "blond hair/blue eyed" children. We turned it over to the Lord, and He made sure we had three wonderful children placed into our lives.

Mark is correct ... there are any number of children who get "passed over" every day due to skin color, or other "problems" that keep people from adopting them. But I will tell you the truth, it doesn't matter what color their skin might be, or what language their parents spoke! Children are children are children!

And we are always keeping our eyes open ... ya never know when the Lord will place a child in your lives!

Darrell H Combs

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2000

Thanks everyone.

-- Anonymous, December 20, 2000

Here in Indonesia, in the Maluccas (Maluku) islands, in the Ambon area, there are a lot of Ambonese refugee children. Muslim jihad armies have gone through and slaughtered many Christians, or cultural Christians. I've met some people who are setting up homes over there to house refugee children. My wife's friend here in Jakarta works in a home for Ambonese children.

I don't know about little babies. There are probably a lot of kids without parents. If your friend is interested, maybe I could try to find out some information. The missionaries who are gong to Ambon haven't started the refugee home as of yet as far as I know. If they get something set up, they may come across a baby with no parents.

A problem is identifying which babies' parents are dead, and which were separated from their children. Babies and little kids have been killed by Muslim fanatics in this war, too.

It might be easier to adopt an older child, but if they adopted an Ambonese kid who went through this war, they might have a lot of difficulties to deal with- a child who had seen atrocities and learned to be really fierce. The woman who works in the children's home has had to deal with kids that were really into black magic. I don't think she's ever eaten when she's come over to our house because she's always been fasting.

-- Anonymous, December 20, 2000

There is a wonderful loving Christian based adoption agency in Abilene Texas, called "Christian Homes of Abilene". I believe they also have a website that you can find in any search engine. :-)

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2001