'Sanctity of Life' Through Adoption

23 January 2011

This child was recently adopted from the Widows and Orphans of Ethiopia orphanage by a family in America. There are about 30 children in this orphanage waiting to be adopted.
                                                                                                                                          Courtesy Photo

By Raymond Billy
ResonateNews.com

The Jan. 22 anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the U.S. has been used as an occasion for abortion opponents to state their belief that life begins at conception and to affirm its sanctity for 38 years. During that span, efforts have been made — with considerable success — to limit the scope of abortion in the absence of an outright ban.

But, abortion opponents, particularly in the Christian community, also have sought to convince women not to use their legal prerogative to terminate a pregnancy. They have been advocating alternatives to the procedure such as carrying the child to term and putting it up for adoption. They also are seeking to ensure these children are matched with quality families and don't end up in foster care limbo.

Dozens of organizations have been established since the 1970s on behalf of orphans and children in foster care systems worldwide. One of those organizations is Streams of Mercy. Wick and Janice Nease founded the organization in 2002 to help orphanages with operating expenses and advocate for the orphaned. Wick Nease said he first became passionate about helping parentless children in the late '70s.

“I was traveling through South America and saw street kids in Bogota, Colombia, who were ruffling through trash; I couldn't believe what I was seeing,” he said. “Later, I told my wife what I saw. That episode was a big motivator for us to start doing something to help children who have no homes.”

One of the first things the Neases did was adopt a son, Michael, in 1980, in the United States. Since then, the couple has been involved with a number of organizations whose aim is to make sure that children receive good homes. Janice Nease worked closely with Living Alternatives, an organization near Lindale, Texas, that assists women with unplanned pregnancies, for example.

But, Streams of Mercy, headquartered in McKinney, Texas, has given the Neases their biggest platform to champion the cause of orphans. The organization supports 27 orphanages in 13 nations around the world. Wick Nease said among the countries where Streams of Mercy is most active, Ethiopia is a place where orphans face some of the most dire circumstances.

“If a girl in Ethiopia has an unwanted pregnancy, it's not uncommon for her to give birth to the child and leave her baby in the jungle,” Nease said. “When that happens, the child doesn't stand much of a chance against the wild animals.

“Now that quality orphan care is available there, women are more likely to drop their unwanted children off at a hospital or police station, knowing the child will be taken to a facility,” Nease said.

Streams of Mercy supports Widows and Orphans of Ethiopia, which Nease said placed 40 children with homes in the U.S. last year. The orphanage currently is caring for 30 orphans.

Nease said he is firmly anti-abortion and believes it is a travesty that the practice is legal in the U.S. But, he said, Christians need to spend more time championing the solutions to the problem, such as adoption. He said that if a fraction of Christians adopted one of the estimated 140 million orphans worldwide, the problem would be eradicated. As for his own efforts, Nease said he is proud of the adoption organizations he and Janice have supported.

“They don't have great resources, but they have a heart for children,” he said. “They are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”