Dollar Store Babies

Hello all,

So today I'm going to "talk" about something. I'm going to avoid making light of this subject, as best as I can of course. This is a sensitive subject to some, and it is personal to me as well. So, this is one rant where I will not be trying to offend my readers. =)

Most of you may know that my wife and I have adopted both of our daughters. I get a lot of questions about adoption. But the one statement, or assumption, I get that kind of irks me is "that's too bad you couldn't have your own kids."

In our case we probably could have biological children. But we felt that adoption was the way we were meant to grow our family at this time. There are people in the world that are not able to conceive and they choose to adopt. But does that make adopted children less loved? Does that mean they had to settle for an adopted child because their first choice wasn't available? I know nobody ever really means to imply that adopted children are any less important than a biological one, but some people think it.

A child is a child. My girls are my children, and I love them more than anything. I could not have biologically created a more perfect set of girls. And except for a few slight physical differences, these girls are a spitting image of me. God created these girls for me, He just used a different delivery system.

It may be difficult for some people to understand how a person can love a child that is not biologically theirs. For me it is difficult to understand how people can NOT love an adopted child. Well, we are all different. Adoption is not for everyone.

In years past there was a big stigma associated with adoption. Children would freak out when they found out they were adopted, parents would keep things secret, everything was always closed and hush hush. That was a shame. As is true with all things, communication and education are key. The stigma has been lifted in the past few years as people have become more concerned about what is best for these children, and less worried about the opinions of others and outward appearances.

The word Adoption needs to hold the same place in society as natural conception, In Vitro fertilization, surrogacy or any other method people choose to grow their family. It is not a second choice, it is not something one must do because all good options are depleted, and it is not a set of parents "saving" a child.

My soap-box lease has expired. And again, I didn't aim to offend anyone, this time. ;) But next time you speak to someone about adoption try to keep in mind that ones children get to them the way they are meant to, and all children are equally important.

Cya in 7