Foster kids need help. Pro-lifers can provide it.

When discussing abortion, certain issues tend to come up. Two of the most common? Adoption and foster care.

I’m often told abortion spares children from “the system.” People who say that usually overlook some things. The first is that if foster kids really are better off dead, then why stop at killing them prior to birth? After all, shouldn’t we be “sparing” newborns and toddlers as well? Replies to this question are rarely polite.

The second is that choosing not to parent doesn’t mean putting your child foster care. People hoping to adopt actually outnumber adoptable infants, and many can be found online. Further, most children don’t enter foster care as babies: the Department of Health and Human Services reports the median age as 6.4.

Many abortion advocates aren’t pleased to learn this; some respond that if aspiring parents were truly pro-life, then they would seek out foster children to adopt instead. Recently, I heard one call adoptive couples “selfish” for wanting to adopt “fresh newborns.” I pointed out that they’re at least providing families to some children, and then asked how many kids he had helped.

I never heard back. 

Still, children in foster children do need assistance. And while most have returning to their families as their eventual goal, around a quarter of are eligible for adoption. The good news? There’s an organization that helps make it happen.

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption was named for Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, and it’s “driven by a single goal: finding a loving family for every child waiting in foster care to get adopted.” On its website, Americans can find information on how to adopt along with how to make a workplace adoption-friendly (there’s a site for Canadians as well). It also features a program that  connects kids with the families they need.

The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids® program has helped over 6300 children to find permanent homes. It provides funding to hire Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters, “professionals who implement proactive, child-focused recruitment programs targeted exclusively on moving America’s longest-waiting children from foster care into adoptive families.” Recruiters are trained to use “aggressive practices and proven tactics” on behalf of the kids they serve.

Recruiters operate across the United States and Canada; there’s an interactive map on the website to help you find one in your area. And even if you’re not ready to adopt, there are still ways you can lend a hand.

While the foster system is far from perfect, telling those in it they would be better off dead is reprehensible. But the fact is, those children do need help.

Pro-lifers can provide it.

[Today’s guest post by Adam Peters is part of our paid blogging program.]