{"id":1368,"date":"2023-11-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2023\/11\/29\/national-adoption-month\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T07:00:00","slug":"national-adoption-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2023\/11\/29\/national-adoption-month\/","title":{"rendered":"National Adoption Month: One Adoptive Parent&#8217;s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the most recent Republican U.S. Presidential debate, former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, said this, <em>\u201cwe need to be pro-life for the <strong>whole life<\/strong>,\u2019 not just in womb.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please understand, I\u2019m not here to advocate for Governor Christie or for any of his policies, but I do agree with him that our commitment as pro-life people should not stop at saving babies but continue for the health and well-being of one\u2019s whole life.\u00a0 And while this topic is too broad to cover in this post, I would like to suggest that adoption is one way that those of us in the pro-life community can make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>November is <em>National Adoption Month<\/em>. As adoptive parents of two children, my wife and I celebrate daily the blessings of this miracle in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We began our first adoption process 12 months before Alex, our son, finally arrived.\u00a0 The year was 1985 and travel restrictions were different back then, but outside of that, as it relates to international adoption, much is the same now as it was then.\u00a0 We had home inspections and wrote letters to our agency describing our marriage, home life, and our interest in adopting a Korean child. We saved our money for the expense involved.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(It\u2019s a miracle story how the Lord provided for our first adoption, but we\u2019ll save it for another time.)\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alex was 3-months old when I walked onto the plane and took him out to meet family and friends.\u00a0 He and another baby traveled from Seoul, Korea to Chicago, Illinois.\u00a0 He was literally lying in a cardboard mail crate with a can of formula, a pair of rubber shoes, and he was wearing two sets of clothes; that\u2019s it!\u00a0 It was amazing then and we are grateful still today for the opportunity to be his parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five years later, our second adoption was stateside and involved our daughter, Jodi.&nbsp; She was just 36-hours old when we took her home from the Chicago hospital.&nbsp; And while it\u2019s been many years since her adoption, for her sake and ours, we don\u2019t share all the details regarding her arrival for privacy\u2019s sake, but suffice it to say, no regrets and she is an amazing young woman!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you think about this important topic, here are just a few statistics for you to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1 in 35 children in the United States is adopted<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The most common form of adoption in the U.S. is stepparent adoption<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are over 400,000 foster care children in the United States currently in the foster care system.<ul><li>More than 50,000 children are adopted through foster care every year.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Of these foster care children, more than 100,000 are waiting to be adopted into a forever family.<\/li><\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>That\u2019s 100,000 foster care children who need the support, stability, and unconditional love a family can provide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For those of you considering adoption, it is a life-changing experience for both you and the adopted child.&nbsp; But let\u2019s be honest, there are challenges too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if you are wondering about the next steps, please find a reputable agency and they can answer your questions.&nbsp; (Besides a Google search for agencies, check with your local church or denomination; plus, trusted friends as there are many good faith-based agencies for you to check out.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, let\u2019s continue to fight the good fight of faith for the unborn, newborn, and those families ready for forever connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And just so you know, because of our adoptions, we now have four \u201cperfect\u201d grandchildren!&nbsp; (I\u2019m still baffled today how imperfect people can create such beautiful and perfect grandchildren, but it\u2019s true!?!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God\u2019s best to you, and to the many adoptive families throughout our listening area!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dick Whitworth<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Director of Operations, STAR 99.1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the most recent Republican U.S. Presidential debate, former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, said this, \u201cwe need to be pro-life for the whole life,\u2019 not just in womb.\u201d&nbsp;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,40],"tags":[124],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-parenting","tag-adoption"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 22:53:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}