regarding adoption

To the editor of New Horizons:

  As adoptive parents ourselves, my wife and I read the articles in the January 2013 (and in previous issues) New Horizons with some interest. One aspect of the Sallades' story struck us as they articulated a common concern amongst Christians who contemplate domestic or foreign adoption. Most Orthodox Presbyterian families are not wealthy, and although the federal government grants some tax rebates to adoptive parents, the financial expense of adoption can seem prohibitive. However, there is another option which is very nearly cost-free: adoption through social service agencies.

  My wife and I discovered this route through some "accidental" providential encounters, and our 4 year-old daughter was adopted this way. We have since met many fellow believers who also are, or have been, foster parents, and have come to realize that foster and adoptive care is a tremendous ministry opportunity. In my opinion, it is overlooked in our circles primarily because of ignorance, not indifference to the plight of the abandoned and abused children who live all around us, and so I write in hopes of making more Orthodox Presbyterians alert to it.

  Fostering and adopting children who have been neglected can pose many challenges, but as the Sallades' story referenced, these challenges arise in every adoption. With them, my wife and I thank our God we can place our daughter and other children under the care of their gentle and faithful Lord and Shepherd. I strongly suggest our members who have begun thinking about this area of service start asking around; we have found that most of us are only one or two degrees of separation away from other reformed foster parents.

  I have been extremely encouraged by the attention New Horizons has been paying to adoption, and to how it is becoming a much more common way of builidng families in Christian circles. I hope more of our members will contact their local social service agencies and look to provide covenant homes for the orphans all around us.

grace & peace,

 Matthew Kingsbury