“Every Child Deserves a Home”

“Every Child Deserves a Home” | Jim Graves | Catholic World Report



Adoptive parents face challenges and make sacrifices to provide loving, stable homes for children in need.

Addressing
families who have adopted children, Pope John Paul II said
in 2000, “To adopt a child is a great work of love. When it is done, much is given, but much is also
received. It is a true exchange of gifts.”

He continued,
“Adopting children, regarding and treating them as one’s own children, means
recognizing that the relationship between parents and children is not measured
only by genetic standards. Procreative love is first and foremost a gift of self. There is a form of ‘procreation’
which occurs through acceptance, concern, and devotion. The resulting
relationship is so intimate and enduring that it is in no way inferior to one
based on a biological connection. When this is also juridically protected, as
it is in adoption, in a family united by the stable bond of marriage, it
assures the child that peaceful atmosphere and that paternal and maternal love which he needs for his full human
development.”

November is National Adoption Month. The
following are interviews with four Catholic couples who adopted children—some
who also have biological children, others who do not. They described the
challenges and blessings of becoming adoptive parents.

“Infertility
was my greatest gift”

Lottie and Tate Hilgefort of Cincinnati, Ohio
married in 2000. They were both anxious to be parents, and were grieved when,
after three years of marriage, they could not conceive a child and carry him or
her to full term. Adding to Lottie’s frustration, her sister, who was much less
anxious to be a parent, conceived on her honeymoon.

Lottie’s doctor suggested in vitro fertilization
(IVF). She was tempted to use it, but knew IVF was contrary to Catholic
teaching (for more on IVF, read “Church teaching on in vitro
fertilization”).

“It was a real test of faith,” Lottie said. “I
loved my husband dearly, and I wanted to have his child. But he encouraged me. He
reminded me of the dignity of human life.”

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.