Says Who?

The National Catholic Register ran this article, which was brought to my attention on the Catholic International Adoptive Parents Yahoo group.

While (must I repeat this again?) no adoptive parent believes that adoption is a panacea, many--if not all--believe that adoption at least gives a child a fighting chance at a life with a mom and a dad who love them, whether biologically connected or not. If it is not possible to love another person who is not your genetic cohort, then we have an awful lot of explaining to do in our marriages--all of whom (we don't have single-branch family trees now, do we folks?) bear no resemblance to our chromosomal pool. And yet in a sacramental marriage, in spite of our different gene pools, we manage to love one another and sanctify one another, pointing one another toward Christ step by step and day by day.

If the article's author is correct, then blended families, extended families, foster families and adoptive families are unable to offer "the love of a parent for a child to encourage us to acknowledge and work on our sins — and to make us grateful for the gifts that we have been given." In fact, she believes " biological parents, both mother and father — are the best people to raise their own children" leaving all others as a poor substitute in their wake.

To read the full article, click here. Or, if you're feeling saucy, you can email the editor of the National Catholic Register at editor at ncregister dot com.

Here is the letter I sent them:

To the editor,

Regarding Ms. Selmys article, "It Is in Love That We Are Made", I wonder how extensive the author's experiences are when she speaks of this "pattern that I have seen repeated throughout my encounters with adopted children."

I wonder if she has ever met an adoptive child who is well-adjusted. I can't imagine that ALL of the people at the homeless shelter were adopted. Perhaps it is just possible, that there were people there without parents...or maybe, just maybe, raised by their biological parents and still struggling to make their way?

I wonder if she has ever seen the other options that an adopted child might face, had adoption not been part of their life?

But most of all, I wonder, has she ever looked into the eyes of a child, who so little resembles her, and been showered by God's grace by what she sees?

I know I have.

Jane M.
Mom to seven incredible blessings--three of whom were designed not by my hand or gene pool, but all by the hand of God