Domestic vs International- Why debate?

I was 8 years old when I decided I would adopt a child. For the next 20 years, I held on to the idea that someday I would adopt a little girl from China, a toddler around the age of 1 or 2.

This image was so vivid in my mind that when we met with our adoption worker for the first time just to get some info on starting the adoption process through China, it shook me to the core when Dan and I both felt after our meeting that we were being called to adopt through Bethany's domestic infant program.

I had never imagined myself mothering a newborn baby, let alone a baby that wasn't Chinese. It took me awhile to reframe my mindset, but I felt confident that God was calling us to adopt right from our own backyard- our little boy was born just 3 hours away from our home.

I've been reading a lot of threads the past couple of days about the newly approved adoption tax credit (a topic for another time) and I've been so surprised at how many people have been chastising others for adopting through international or domestic infant programs, or even just using an agency.

There are an estimated 210 million orphans worldwide. That's enough children that if they were all put in one country, it would be the 5th largest country in the entire world (for reference, there are 196 countries worldwide).

I don't know about you, but those numbers convict my heart to the core. 210 million and we're going to quibble about what country those children come from?

I have a verse hanging on my bedroom wall to remind me daily of the call I've felt for my life-

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:27

Notice it doesn't say "orphans and widows in your own country."

Adoption can be difficult and it's a personal decision for each individual family- families should adopt the children they feel best equipped to parent, not the children that other people tell them they should adopt.

Opening you heart to a child, regardless of where they come from, is a decision that should be lauded, not scorned.