In another blog I read occasionally, the author thanked a recent award winner for drawing attention to "those important [adoptive] moms who love like Jesus does." This statement bothers me for several reasons. First, because of its pat me on the back mentality that I'm being so virtuous and Christian by adopting. I'm sorry, but adopting does not equate laying down your life to the extent Christ did for us. But most of all, this bothers me because it leaves the birth mom out of the picture. How many of the birth moms, particularly in foreign countries, are NOT teenage moms giving up their babies but are moms and dads who desperately would love to keep their families intact but are unable to because of the bad economy and lack of community development where they live. God created families so what can we do to help families stay intact and thrive rather than encourage families to disband in hopes that their child may get a better future?

"There are 147 million orphans across our world today. If 1 in 10 Christian families were to adopt, there would be 0."

I love my Christian brothers and sisters who choose to adopt. However, there are so many logical fallacies with the above statement.

1. How many of these 147 million are truly orphans with no parents at all? So many children at orphanages have living parents who believe they can't afford to care for their children. With economic development in their home countries, these parents could keep their kids.

2. If all orphans were adopted, there would just be more orphans. I fear international adoption only increases the number of parents who abandon their children because they feel they are unable to care for them.

3. Let's encourage sustainable, economic development around the world to increase the standard of living and decrease the number of orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. By all means adopt, but let's tackle the needs of orphans and foster children here in the U.S.