FACT

“The deep shame of struggling with adoptive parenting felt crushing,” wrote Kristin T. Lee in 2024.⁠
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“Since childhood I’d been taught that adoption was beautiful, precious, and God-ordained. Why didn’t it feel that way for me?⁠
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When churches oversimplify adoption—treating it as a glorious reflection of God’s plan, as an answer to abortion, or as a form of missions—we distort a complex relationship and set adoptive parents up for failure by putting us in a role that was never ours. ⁠
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Adoption is not a panacea; rather, it’s the beginning of a long journey.⁠
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By reframing how we speak about adoption, recognizing that it originates in brokenness, and presenting a range of adoption stories rather than only the easy or resolved ones, we better prepare prospective parents and normalize the difficulties that adoptive families may face. ⁠
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The goal is not to discourage or discredit adoption but to ensure it is undertaken with realistic expectations.”