The paperwork is filed. The confirmations made. The terms agreed upon. Anticipation sets in. Soon, the adoption will be made final and the child will arrive.
Families of faculty and staff across Union’s campus have, are and will be adopting children. Many adoptions are taking place now, with each couple in a separate stage of the process.
Ken Litscher, director of Residence Life, his wife Renee and their three sons, Jonathan, Gabe and Gideon, anticipate the arrival of Hope, a 3-year-old they are adopting from Uganda. They had their court date in Uganda April 24.
The family chose to adopt from Uganda because it suited their family dynamic, and it was also one of the countries served by their adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services.
Litscher said they had always considered adopting, but he and Renee felt the earthquake in Haiti three years ago was the catalyst God used to finalize the decision.
“There are kids who need families and we have a family and we would love to welcome another child into it,” he said, referring to their thoughts after the earthquake occurred.
Mathematics professor Chris Hail, his wife Kelli and their four children, Katie, Caleb, Kelsey and Khaki, anticipate picking up their 1-year-old daughter in Columbia in the upcoming days.
He said the decision to adopt was made about four years ago when God’s call to care for orphans and widows started becoming clearer to them. The process has taken about three years, Hail said.
Originally, the couple worked with an agency that helped them find a child in Belize, but nothing happened. After two years of no results, they switched to another agency.
They began working with Grace International Adoption Agency and began looking in Columbia for a child last summer. Although they had wanted a boy to even out the number of boys and girls they had, a baby girl became available, he said.
All paperwork and approvals needed in Columbia and the United States are complete; they are simply waiting for the call to go and pick up the child.
The help the family has received from Union and the community has been a testimony to their children that “when you step out in faith, look what happens,” Hail said.
Resident Director Ashley Jackson, her husband Ernie and their three sons, Clark, Matthew and Titus, anticipate being chosen by a birth mother who plans to give up her child.
Jackson and her husband were both exposed to the idea of adoption throughout the early parts of their lives, she said, and they wanted to make adoption a part of their story, too.
The Jacksons have pursued a domestic adoption through Life Choices, a pregnancy help medical clinic based in Memphis. In using Life Choices, they know that the mother of their future child will be ministered to through care and counseling, and they can make the child a part of their family within 14 days of birth.
“It’s hard to describe, because you’re longing for this child,” Jackson said.
At Life Choices, mothers are shown profiles of adoptive families, she said. If they are chosen, they can meet the mother and her support system of friends and family.
Four days after the child is born, the mother appears in court to relinquish her parental rights. If the mother does not change her mind, the child legally becomes part of the adoptive family 10 days later.
All three families have prepared their children by making the adoptions a constant topic of conversation in their households.
“I feel like this is what the Lord has called us to — that we have to be obedient and walk in that,” Jackson said.