Ransom

Today someone suggested I foster a child (which I do) so that I could still be a mother but have the resources to care for the child. This person has no ill intentions and I did not receive this as being such. I was not offended but wanted to clarify that the funds needed for this adoption are not to provide for my child. I can do that. I could also save my money and eventually be able to adopt this child by myself. Eventually. But while I save, she waits. Longer and longer. More and more malnourished. More and more lost. More and more defeated and hopeless.

The funds needed are to save this child's life. And please, if you are the one that made this comment, please know that it was not received as an insult. I'm sure others wonder the same thing. Why should someone else pay for my child? This statement helped me really think about what this money is for, the value of these funds, the cost of adoption.

Which brings me to today's blog title: Ransom.

In international adoptions, you will run across the word "ransom" from time to time. Sometimes I agree with this statement and sometimes I do not. If these countries do not value these children and do not want them, why do we have to pay so much to give them a home? Why can't they just give the children to us? What do they do with all this money? Why do we have to buy our children?

But...There are social workers that complete the home study and write the report. Adoption agency staff work to review paperwork, complete paperwork, help with dossier preparation, get packets of information mailed, etc. Documents have to be translated. Court documents filed. There are court clerks and judges that work to process the paperwork and have hearings. Attorney fees. Agencies both domestic and abroad that process paperwork. Drivers, translators, and facilitators in country that help us out. I'm sure there are many other workers and aspects of the international adoption process that I am not yet aware (but will be soon!!) Should these people be working for free? It would be nice of them, but nice doesn't pay the bills, put food on the table, and cloth their own families.

Let's look at what ransom really means and how it is defined: 

noun

1. the redemption of a prisoner, slave, or kidnapped person, of captured goods, etc., for a price.

2. the sum or price paid or demanded.

3. a means of deliverance or rescue from punishment for sin, especially the payment of a redemptive fine.

verb (used with object)

4. to redeem from captivity, bondage, detention, etc., by paying a demanded price.

5. to release or restore on receipt of a ransom.

6. to deliver or redeem from punishment for sin.

I never realized how closely related Ransom and Redeemed were. Interesting... So, ransom, in effect, is exactly what these adoption funds/costs are. I (and those helping and advocating for this child/adoption) am trying to save her, rescue her, redeem her from her perceived "sin" of being born with a special need. I hope and pray that upon receipt of this ransom, she will not only be released but also restored! She is a prisoner of a society, culture, economy, and stigma. This is the cost for her life. Do we not pay this much and more for a car? Is the life of a child not worth more than a vehicle?

Were we not redeemed and delivered from sin by Jesus Christ?

John 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

 ¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

   ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Ransom = Redemption