Once Lonely, Now Loved: The Growing Movement of In-Country Adoption

Every day, children around the world

wake up without the security of a family. They grow up without the stability of parents to guide them or the safety of belonging.

At the same time, many Christians around the world long to care for these children but feel limited—by distance, by calling, or by the high cost of international adoption.

The need is great, and the gap feels wide.

But what if there were another way?

God is making a way.

Around the world, the Church is responding to the need to care for the orphan in their midst.

Congregations are rallying together. Families are courageously stepping forward to say yes to children in their own neighborhoods and communities.

This growing movement of in-country adoption is changing the future for countless orphans, giving them the stability of a home, the tenderness of a family’s love, and the hope of a living faith in the child’s home country.

These children are nurtured within their own culture, language, and traditions. They celebrate the same holidays, sing the same songs, and share the same heritage as their adoptive families.

This means children who once felt invisible and forgotten are now discovering an unshakable truth. They are seen, known, and loved.

Here at Lifesong,

we believe the Church is the solution to orphans’ needs.

Specifically, throughout Scripture, God calls His people to care for the fatherless. To defend the vulnerable. To welcome the lonely into families.

So whether it happens in the United States or anywhere else in the world, adoption reflects the heart of Christ. It’s the global Church—across cultures and continents—living out God’s design to place the lonely in families and to declare to every child: you belong.

Through your generosity,

believers around the world are being equipped to welcome children into loving, Christ-centered homes.

While the need for international adoption remains here in the U.S., we are also watching God raise up families within their own countries to answer the call.

In countries like Ukraine, local churches are equipping and encouraging Christian families to open their homes and hearts to children who need them most.

And in Ethiopia—where international adoption is now closed—we are watching the Church rise to meet the need in powerful ways. Parents who have themselves experienced God’s mercy are extending that mercy to children who have lost everything, giving them not only safety and love, but also identity and belonging within their own communities.

Years ago,

because of the faithful prayers and generous partnership of people like you, we launched a program at Lifesong to connect like-minded churches and families in the U.S. with Christian families in Ukraine who are ready to adopt but cannot afford the costs.

Consider this. An international adoption can cost anywhere from $32,000 to $66,000. But a Christian family in Ukraine can often complete an in-country adoption for just a few hundred dollars. The difference is staggering. And yet, for many families around the world—who are already willing and eager to adopt—even that much smaller amount can feel out of reach.

The heart of in-country adoption is family and belonging. But the affordability makes it one more way we can faithfully steward financial resources for the sake of orphaned and vulnerable children.

Your part in this story

When you pray and give, you become part of God’s provision for children who are waiting to be welcomed home. You help write chapters where a boy in Ukraine hears his name spoken with love. Or a girl in Ethiopia discovers she is chosen and cherished.

You help create moments where holidays are celebrated around a family table. Where bedtime songs are sung in familiar languages. Where children grow up surrounded by the rhythms of their own culture.

While cost is never the main reason to support in-country adoption, your partnership helps remove one of the greatest barriers standing in the way. What feels like an impossible mountain for a willing family often becomes a doorway to hope because of your generosity. And as a result, children are not only finding families. They are finding a future firmly rooted in the love of Christ.

Together, we get to celebrate stories with brothers and sisters around the world that are both deeply personal and eternally significant—stories of children who were once forgotten, now seen; once lonely, now loved; once without family, now home.