By Rosemary Miller, Exec. Director
Catholic Social Services of Montana

One of the hardest lessons as Christians is learning how to surrender to God’s plan for us. We see this every day at Catholic Social Services with our adoption program. God has a plan for each child. We have the privilege of seeing his plan played out in the lives of families who allow us to be a part of their life.

It is hard to accept as a couple that God is not going to send you a child to birth. Once a couple has accepted this they are able to move on to what God might have in store for them. Sometimes the plan is to have His children come to us through other families. The baby that was meant for this family becomes so evident once the adoptive parents meet the expectant parents. So often couples tell us that they understand why they had to endure the pain they did because God had chosen a child for them and that child was not yet ready to enter the world.

Many children throughout the world need a family. Many of these children are orphaned because of natural disasters or a major health crisis. They reside in orphanages many times until a family can adopt them. Families in Montana find themselves reaching halfway across the world to find that child that he has planned for them.

The children come with a scared look on their face and within a short period of time they are able to relax and eventually to smile. It warms your heart to see their rapid progress in the home of a loving family.

The children who suffer perhaps the most are the children in the United States who have been abused and/or neglected and have been removed from their parents because it is not safe for them to live with their birth family. They experience severe scars, mostly emotional, from the treatment they received as young children.

Approximately 126,000 children in the U.S. foster-care system are waiting for an adoptive home. Their average age is 8 years old and they have been in the foster-care system for an average of five years. They are a challenge to parent but they want nothing more than a family they can call their own. God does have a plan for them. They are children of God who need strong but compassionate parents.

We continually search for what God’s plan is for these children. Please keep them in your prayers.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 10, October 17, 2008.