To adoptive and foster parents: what the Bible offers

Part one

Sandra Peterson with contributions from George Schultz, Mary Schultz

She loved the Scriptural idea of "children of promise." He explored the meaning of God as Father-Mother. She studied the Bible story of Samuel's mother. He came to see parenting as stewardship. This spiritual search was their preparation during the long process of adopting a child. They were impelled by a yearning not simply to have a child of their own but to make a home for a young person in need. When the adoption agency asked if they would take a handicapped child from South America, they said yes to a seven-year-old girl. And a few years later, when she said she wanted to have a brother or a sister, they explored the possibilities of foster parenting. Now they are a family of five—having added to their home two foster children who needed shelter from a turbulent home in the United States.

As interviewer Sandra Peterson talked to adoptive and foster parents George and Mary Schultz, there was a very strong Biblical theme: all children belong to God, and not one of them is outside of His watchful care.

Mary Schultz: Bible passages look very different when you are waiting for adoption to happen. For example, there is this verse in Isaiah: "Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth" (43:6). And from Psalms, "God setteth the solitary in families" (68:6). There's a lot in the Bible about our responsibility to care for the fatherless. The Psalmist also writes, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up"

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