The Cost

So, here's the deal. Most everything I have to say is really something I heard someone else say. I just know a lot of smart people. Anyway, this post is about something one of my friends said as she and her husband were in the adoption process. It's about the the high cost of adoption.

Adoption is very expensive. Our adoption is going to cost around $15,000. International adoption is roughly about twice that. You don't finance the total amount and make payments over time. You must have the entire amount paid before you can bring your child home.

Everyone (including myself) wonders - "How can it be that there are 147 million orphans in the world and adoption is still so expensive?" I've realized that there is really not one simple answer to that question. In some cases, there is corruption involved that raises the cost. In the case of the agency we are using, the money we pay goes towards funding an entire ministry for women as they walk the difficult path of an unplanned pregnancy. I'm sure there are many, many other reasons.

But I think my friend had the best "answer" to this question. She really didn't mind the cost. It didn't deter her either. In fact, she said there is something significant in the fact that adoption costs so much when you think in light of the gospel. The cost of our spiritual adoption was very high - it cost Jesus his life. God wasn't deterred at the high cost of our adoption, even though it was our sin that drove the cost so high.

The financial cost of adoption is one main reason people do not consider adopting in their own family. I get that and realize there is no one size fits all answer for that issue. But I also know that, of the families I know who have adopted, none of them had an extra $15,000-$30,000 lying around. (We certainly don't!) When you are called to adopt you will know it. And the cost of that calling will not deter you, even as the cost of Christ's calling did not deter him.

The high cost causes people to trust God as provider. As the pastor of our church often says - "We need to realize that, through Jesus, our problem has been solved." We think we have a lot of problems. Our one real problem is our own love of sin that separates us from a loving God. Jesus willingly paid the high cost to purchase salvation for us. Our problem has been solved if we accept this salvation that Jesus has bought. What's $15,000, then, to God?

The high cost of adoption also causes the church to function as the Body of Christ. It is God's own Spirit who is moving when believers of Jesus are led to respond to the need of orphans. I am constantly aware that we are not alone in this process. It is significant that our family cannot afford this adoption alone. And, it is a kindness of God to mobilize the church in helping us bring our baby home. Christ himself is represented through the Body of believers in this way.

I can't really end this post without mentioning the cost of adoption that cannot be quantified by dollar signs. When a mother's selfless love compels her to place her child for adoption - that is sacrifice. One birth mother from another country made this comment about why she wanted her child to be adopted, "I know that I am going to die of poverty, but I don't want my baby to die of poverty, too." Adoption is beautiful, but there is always pain, too. I want to remember that even as we are paying a high financial cost to welcome this baby into our home, someone else is paying the high cost of emotional pain for the sake of this child.

So, I don't mind the cost.