Adoption Statistics for National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month, and since I found these eye opening statistics on a fellow blogger's site (Angel) I thought it would be a good time to share them.

In America, there are more than half a million children in the U.S. foster system, a 90% increase since 1987.

12-18 months after aging out of the foster care system:

27% of males and 10% of females had been incarcerated

33% were receiving public assistance

37% had not finished high school

50% were unemployed

Children in foster care are 11 times more likely to be abused in a foster home than they are in their own home.80% of prison inmates have spent time in the foster care system.

Now, here are some statistics from overseas:

Every 15 seconds, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa.

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans in Africa!

Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans in Africa alone!

143,000,000 orphans in the world spend an average of 10 years in an orphanage or foster home.

In the Ukraine and Russia, 10-15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18.

60% of the girls are lured into prostitution.

70% of the boys become hardened criminals.Many of these children accept job offers that sell them into slavery.Millions become sex slaves, simply because they were unfortunate enough to grow up as orphans.

The sad reality is that there are so many children in such desperate conditions. Here are some verses that apply to the orphan situation:

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. Matt. 18:5

But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;you consider it to take it in hand.The victim commits himself to you;you are the helper of the fatherless.Psalm 10:14

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.Rescue the weak and needy;deliver them from the hand of the wicked.Psalm 82:3

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case for the widow. Isaiah 1:17

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. Deuteronomy 10:18

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 24:19

When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Deuteronomy 26:12

When God first began to put adoption on my heart, I thought, "Why would I adopt? I'm able to have children biologically. We've already had two children, and our family is comfortable the way it is. Why would I adopt?"

And then the Lord began to point me to these scriptures, and He began to show me the over abundance of resources and relationships I was surrounded with every day, and He spoke gently to me, "You are asking the wrong question. Don't ask, 'Why would I adopt?' Ask, 'Why wouldn't I adopt?'"

Have you ever asked yourself this question, "Why wouldn't I adopt?" If you're like me, there are lots of immediate answers that come to mind. It costs too much money. My biological children would have to sacrifice too much. I'm too busy already. What if I adopted a child who had problems I couldn't handle? I wouldn't know where to begin. What if I couldn't love a child I adopted as much as my biological children? Aren't we too old to bring another child into our family? We don't have a big enough house.

It makes me think of the story of Moses in Exodus 3:1-4:15. When God came to Moses in the burning bush and told Moses He wanted him to lead His people out of Egypt...Moses had a lot of questions. He really thought God had the wrong man for the job. But God didn't mind Moses' questions. One by one, the Lord patiently answered them, so that Moses was left without any excuses. It was only when Moses said, ""O Lord, please send someone else to do it," that God's anger burned against him. I want to be a person that God can call upon to do His will, and I want to be comfortable enough with my Father to ask him the hard questions, like, "How is that going to work because I sure don't get it?" But I don't want to be a person who says, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." I want to learn from Moses and choose a different path...a path into the Promised Land.

Thanks Angel for your words :)