This has been a defining week at Kings Kids Village for us. We have been up and running as a home for going on six years in June. We have been so busy building our group homes, making sure that all of our kids feel begotten, not forgotten, that in the process we let the whole concept of adopting kids out of our orphanage go to the side… not because we don’t believe that adoption can be the best answer to the plight of abandoned babies and such orphans who have totally lost touch with their extended families. Our focus has been on making sure that these kids know they belong and in doing so have pretty much lost them their shot at adoption.
We discovered this over the past month, since it had come to our attention that someone was very interested in adopting from our orphanage. In the process of having representatives from the adoption agency visit our home, we discovered that we may have done a little too good a job at providing a home atmosphere for the kids… In fact, we discovered that we have actually provided them with much more than a house, but a real home… We found this out when we talked with our house parents about the idea of adoption. They were all fine, except, “Not my kids”! We discovered that the bond between them is pretty much inseparable.
More than that, we realized that when each kids came to Kings Kids Village, we told them that they had arrived home and that the house parent was in fact their parent… The miracle is that they have believed us. The challenge is that it makes adoption pretty much out of the question for them…
What we realized that we must do to resolve this issue is not to adopt from these kids, but upon expansion, we will seek to create an environment among our new group home(s) an expectation for adoption. Which again, creates new challenges, especially for the abandoned kids who may not get adopted… It would be like a double abandonment…
In conclusion: We are committed to providing an environment where kids feel like they belong to a family. We also want to have an environment where kids can be adopted as the right people and scenario exist. It may be that God is calling us to more than expansion, but to diversity in ministry. We may well end up registering our own adoption agency and also start an outreach ministry to help kids before they become abandoned or orphaned… Pray for us as we contemplate, plan and prepare for more ministry…