My speech is on adoption. First I would like you to know that I am adopted. In this speech I will be telling you, what adoption is, why we have adoption and what happens to these children.

Adoption is the process by which people take a child that was not born to them and raise them as a member of their family. By law an adopted child has all the legal rights as a member of their family, a foster child does not have these rights. There are also certain laws about a child and his/her Birthparents. Once the child is adopted it ends all ties with his / her Birthparents .When the child is adopted he / she has a new and permanent home and family.

Did you know that there is almost 20000 children under the age 18. These children are given up for many reasons. Some people abuse their children, and the Adoption Agencies come in and take over from there. Other situations the parents feel they are to young to care for the child properly. Or they may not have the funds to take care of the child. In other situations the parents have no choice but to give them up.

Where do they go? These children go to Adoption Agencies who place them in foster homes. A foster home is a temporary place until a permanent home is found.

The younger the children are, people adopt them more because the older they are, they are harder to deal with. And a lot of people don' t want kids that are hard to deal with. Did you know that some people are so "into" adoption they have to wait 3 to 7 years to adopt a baby. Sometimes people who are desperate will do crazy things like black market adoption, where some babies sell at the price of 25,000 dollars. People who are desperate will be willing to spend thousands of dollars to transport a baby across the whole entire world. I would now like to add a poem called: "The legacy of adoption":

"Once there were two women, who never knew each other;

One I don't remember, the other I call mother.

Two lives shaped to make mine one;

One became my guiding star the other became my sun.

One gave me nationality, the other gave a name;

One gave me the seed of talent, the other gave me aim.

One gave me emotions, the other calmed my fears;

One saw my first sweet smile, the other dried my tears.

One gave me up, it was all she could do.

The other prayed for a child, God lead her straight to me.

And now I ask through my tears, The age old question through the years.

Hereditary or environment ? Which am I a product of?

Neither! Just two different kinds of love."

This poem tells about one child's past, and if we all stop and think about it, we are all adopted in Christ, for in Ephesians 1: 4 and 5 it says: "For he chose us before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons in accordance with his will."

I agree adoption has its up and downs, and I am truly thankful that l was adopted into a loving Christian family. I would now like to dedicate this to the memory of Bill Witteveen.

Thank you,

Ellie Van Es