Special Blessings
God's healing touch for "special needs" children clearly shows through the vocation of adoptive parents

Robin R. Mueller | 02/01/06

When you consider that thousands of children will never experience a lasting family connection, I think we need to challenge our Lutheran families,"says Rev. Paul Devantier, who was the national director of the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program from 2001-05.

Abortion in the United States causes 1.2 million fewer babies to be born here annually. So U.S. citizens increasingly seek to adopt infants from Korea, China, and Russia.

Of the nearly 3.9 million babies born in the U.S. each year, nearly one-third are to single women. The majority of women with unplanned pregnancies choose either abortion or single parenting; just 1-2 percent choose an adoption plan. Infant Adoption Awareness materials help counselors learn how to present adoption as a positive choice for birth mothers and their children. "Meanwhile, a large group of 'special needs' children - older, biracial, and/or infants with medical and drug-exposure conditions that make them difficult to place - desperately need families," explains Devantier.

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