But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God
—John 1:12
If you’ve made the decision to follow Jesus Christ as your Savior, your life has been touched by adoption—God Himself has adopted you as His child.
Many Christians who choose to adopt or foster a child will tell you they were inspired to do so as a reflection of God’s love for His children. There’s also a good chance they’ll tell you foster care and adoption should never be considered lightly or without a lot of prayer and soul searching.
Each adoption is unique and can involve a lot of fragile hearts—including those of the adoptee, the adoptive family, and the birth family—and it can be a long, difficult journey. But at its best, adoption is a beautiful act of love that gives an orphan the precious gifts of a safe home and a forever family.
As long as we live in a broken world, Christ followers are called to “visit orphans and widows in their trouble” (James 1:27). But we do so with the joyful anticipation that there are no orphans in God’s Kingdom.
“If we have given our lives to Christ, God has adopted us into His family,” Billy Graham once wrote. “He is now your loving heavenly Father, and you are now His child, spiritually born into His family.”
As the United States recognizes November as National Adoption Month, we hope the following adoption stories and Biblical wisdom from Billy Graham and will be an encouragement to you.
Questions About Adoption & Foster Care
Why did God allow my biological parents to give me up for adoption?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Shouldn’t my parents have told me much sooner that I’m adopted?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Will you encourage more people to become foster families?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Why hasn’t God allowed us to adopt a child yet?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Why won’t God let me find my biological parent?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
My teenage daughter is pregnant. What should we do?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
I think my extended family looks down on me because I’m not a blood relative.
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Questions About Abortion
Why is abortion such a big issue for Christians?
>> Read this answer.
I don’t want to get an abortion, but I don’t think I have a choice.
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Will I ever get over the guilt of my abortion?
>> Read Billy Graham’s answer.
Adoption Stories
He grew up as a “street kid” in Uganda. Now, Peter Mutabazi fosters in North Carolina and has an adopted son.
>>Hear his story.
An American family never planned to adopt. Then they met a 10-year-old orphan.
>> Listen to their adoption story.
‘God had a plan for my life.’
>> Read how God turned tragedy into beauty for a Korean adoptee.
An adoptive father’s 1-minute story.
>> Listen now.
Billy Graham’s grandson, Edward Graham, is an adoptive father.
>> Read his story.
A mother who got pregnant after a sexual assault refused to abort her baby.
>> Read how her birth daughter is thriving after being adopted.
‘I thought it was a fairy tale.’
>> Listen to Elena’s story of finding Jesus and an adoptive family.
Do you know God as your loving Father? You can. Start here.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
—Romans 8:14-15
