Dear Mr. Coulthard

We can spend $5,000 on a pedigree pet or just go to the Humane Society with $50.. You can spend $50,000 or more bringing an orphan from overseas or pay a tenth of that from a US orphanage. Either way your helping an unwanted child. Personally I think charity starts at home.

Oh, Mr. Coulthard, so many things to say, where do I start?

1. Adoption isn’t charity. Charity is giving money to a cause that pulls on your heart strings. Adoption is growing your family. A child needs a family; your family needs a child. In this thing we call adoption, those two needs are met. So, unless you are meaning to use the word charity in it’s New Testament context meaning agape love that both glorifies and reflects the very nature of God, adoption isn’t charity. 
2. Every single child is precious. Every child of every race from every culture from every country, children born in the United States and children born across the world. Healthy children and children born with profound special needs. The amount of money a family spends in order to finalize an adoption is not an indicator of that child’s worth. Families who spend a lot of money in order to adopt a child internationally are not doing so because those children are somehow more valuable than children in their backyard. There’s a lot more to it than that. 
3. You seem to be trying to make an argument that people should be adopting waiting children in the U. S. rather than adopting waiting children from other parts of the world. I assume when you refer to U.S. “orphanages,” you are referring to children in either group homes or foster care. In the U.S. right now, we have about 400,000 children who fit that description. Only between 20-25% of those children are actually available for adoption. The average age of those children available for adoption is 8 years old. Adopting a waiting child from the United States isn’t so easy–and doesn’t cost $5,000, for the record.
4. We are talking about children. Children. Please do not ever, ever, ever try to compare my child or any child to a dog or any other animal for that matter. Each one of my children–the three I birthed and the 1 who was born to another I share the title “mother” with–are human beings made in the image of God Himself. They are not pets or trophies or marketing tools. 

Anytime you want to talk more about the adventure of adoption, let me know. I know a lot of mothers to children from all over and some people who were adopted themselves who would be glad to talk to you, I’m sure, about the truth of adoption.

Any takers?