This week the news has been buzzing about Kim Kardashian's trip to Thailand earlier this year. The big news? Kim considered adopting a young girl from a Thai orphanage that she and her family visited.
On a recent episode of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" Kim expressed her feelings for the young girl named Pink. "I literally cannot stop thinking about her," she told her mother Kris and stepbrother Brandon. "I told Kanye... 'Honestly, this girl is so sweet and cute. I would totally adopt her.'"
Her mother, however, didn't respond with 'Oh Honey, that's a wonderful idea. I think you should do it!' Her response was, "Oh my gosh. That's a little aggressive. I think that you can't just go to an orphanage and fall in love with a child and then take them home like you're shopping.
"You get very passionate about things and then you don't think the whole thing through," Kris continued. "I bet there are other things you could do that would make all the difference in this little girl's life that you could do without bringing her home."
Pink had obviously stolen Kim's heart, especially when the young girl gave Kim a bracelet as a parting gift. Kim was overwhelmed by the gesture, saying, "They have nothing and she gave me her bracelet. I have this draw to this particular girl. I literally want to take her home with me."
When Kim returned home, she did some homework and learned that international adoption from Thailand is quite complicated, due to an unfortunate number of child exploitation incidents there. Kim and Kris' solution? They decided to donate a swimming pool to Pink's orphanage.
Now I must say, the Mama Bear in me totally understands Kim's feelings. First of all, I am an adoptive mother. I even went as far as Moscow, Russia to bring one of my children home.
I, like Kim, have also traveled abroad and wanted to bring a child - or two, or three - home with me. I would have signed adoption papers immediately when I returned home from Brazil ten years ago. I'd fallen in love with several of the children there - especially two precious teenagers.
So I get it.
Yet I also understand Kim's Mom's point of view. The human heart is tricky and fickle. Sometimes we lead with our hearts, and not our minds. When it comes to adopting a child, we've got to draw from the strength of both. The heart moves us to compassion and empathy. The mind causes us to count the cost. To make sure adoption would best for everyone involved - especially the child.
When we tap into the wealth of the heart and mind, we sometimes discover that adoption is not the best outcome for a child.
Maybe the child's biological parents are still connected somehow, and international adoption would completely sever this relationship. Workers at the Brazilian orphanage I served in years ago mentioned that some of the children's parents still visited their children from time to time. They just didn't have the financial resources to raise them. (That's a tragedy, and needs a blog post by itself. But I digress...)
Maybe there's even a possibility that someone from the child's biological family, like an aunt, could one day adopt the child.
The bottom line is we are not the superhero with the red cape flapping in the wind and the large A - for "Adoptive Parent" - on our chests. We must look to the real superhero - God - and seek His best for a child.
We must not treat children like commodities in a novelty store, telling the shopkeeper, "I'll take that one."
We must honor the children whose paths cross ours. We must value them enough to consider what is truly best for them. And we must not presume that what's best for them is coming home with us.
Micah 6:8 says it well:
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."We must walk in justice and mercy, but we must also walk in humility.
Sometime walking humbly with God means doing exactly what Kim and her mother resolved to do: continue to provide for the Thai orphanage from their wealth of resources. To continue to send clothing, school supplies and medical supplies - maybe even a swimming pool.
So... these are my thoughts. Tell me yours in the comment section!
