On national adoption day, Nov. 18, 2017, President Bruce McLarty posted several pictures of those impacted by adoption on our campus. After seeing the large number of students, I decided to dig a little deeper into why people believe adoption is so important. This will be a three part series featuring stories about domestic and international adoption and\u00a0 foster care to adoption.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cChild to be adopted:
\nChristopher Michael Town-send. <\/b>Natural Mother: Diane M. Townsend. Natural Father: Unknown … The State of Missouri to Unknown Natural Father, you are hereby notified that an action has been commenced \u2026 to obtain a decree of adoption of Christopher Michael Townsend, a minor.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
This excerpt from the April 1, 1976 edition of the St. Louis Countian declared the intended adoption of the man we now know as Dr. James (Jim) Miller, chairman of the Department of Communication.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Miller was adopted when he was 6 weeks old. Three years later, his parents adopted another child, Jeanne.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI have always felt there was something special about being adopted. In some ways, I was chosen,\u201d Miller said. \u201cGod provided me many great opportunities because I was adopted by a loving, caring, God-fearing family.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Miller, one of 7 million adopted Americans, believed God\u2019s hand was in his adoption story.<\/b><\/p>\n
According to math adjunct professor Darla Phillips, and her husband, professor of exercise and sports science Bryan Phillips, God played a vital role in the adoption of their daughter as well.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Phillipses began the adoption process after hearing from a colleague about a little girl who needed to be adopted. Seven months later, when their paperwork was finished, that same little girl was still available for adoption.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cGetting Kathryn was a godsend. We hadn\u2019t thought that was a possibility,\u201d Bryan Phillips said. \u201cNormally a child would have been adopted by then, but Kathryn had to go through some court procedures that took time, and so the other couples ahead of us had already adopted other kids. …We ended up getting the little girl that spurred us on to get ready for adoption.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Darla Phillips added that she believed God\u2019s hand was in more than just the timing of the adoption.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cHer birth mother wanted her to be placed with an African-American family since her birth father was African-American. She felt she\u2019d be more accepted if she was in a black family,\u201d Darla said. \u201c(But) no one on the (adoption) list wanted a biracial child. Kathryn was biracial. We didn\u2019t really know what that meant. Biracial could be half Indian, half Caucasian. She happened to be half-black, half-white.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Kathryn Phillips grew up in a predominantly white school and faced what her father referred to as \u201cunintended bias.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cAt no point since the adoption has Kathryn been anything but our kid,\u201d Bryan Phillips said. \u201cWe don\u2019t see her as having color to her skin or anything, but you walk (through) Walmart and (people) don\u2019t realize she\u2019s our daughter. She\u2019d run out in front of us and someone would grab her and say \u2018Are your parents around?\u2019 and we\u2019re standing right there, but they wouldn\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
According to junior Jon
\n-Michael Fields, who was adopted shortly after birth, dealing with racial prejudice was common for him and his family. Fields, as well as two of his four siblings and both of his parents, were adopted.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cMy family is very multi
\n-ethnic,\u201d Fields said. \u201cIf you get a picture of my family with my extended family, we look like a bunch of random people. <\/b>\u2026<\/b> One of the things that we were kind of taught growing up was that your skin color doesn\u2019t matter, but people think it does.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
According to Kathryn Phillips, she faced hard situations due to her adoption fairly often growing up.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had people tell me that my parents are not my parents because they didn\u2019t give birth to me,\u201d Kathryn Phillips said. \u201cThat was hard because I know that they\u2019re my mom and dad, and they tell me that they\u2019re my parents.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0Junior Riley Rose, who was adopted at 6 days old, faced similar struggles.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up, I had the mindset of being abandoned and unwanted,\u201d Rose said. \u201cIt took me a little while to finally grasp that God planned this out for me. God chose to put (me) in the Roses\u2019 hands in order for (me) to grow up in Searcy with them as (my)\u00a0 parents and Wil as (my) brother.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Rose added that being adopted gave her opportunities that she would not have had otherwise.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI needed someone to nourish<\/b> me spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally and (my parents) did that,\u201d<\/b> Rose said. \u201cThey fed me when I don\u2019t know if I would have been fed before. They gave me a bed, (when) who knows if I would have had a bed before. They gave me a house. They gave me an opportunity to be educated. They gave me my best friend \u2014 my brother. All those things no one ever thinks about.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Fields believes that those provisions made by adoptive parents for their children are a result of a \u201cspecial crazy kind of love.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThe most high love, the ultimate love, is the love of choice,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI say \u2018I am going to choose to love another person with all my being.\u2019\u00a0 That is what adoptive parents do. They take you in, they say \u2018you are not my own, but I am going to love you like you are.\u2019 Through that, you become their own.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Miller believes that crazy kind of love is what God has for his people, and why adoption is so meaningful.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cScripture talks a lot about adoption and that should not go unsaid,\u201d Miller said. \u201cPaul writes about how all of us are adopted sons and daughters and there\u2019s something really special about that. Where God has chosen us to be his children, to lavish on us so many great riches that come with being a part of his family. \u2026We\u2019ve all been chosen. That\u2019s significant. We all want to be wanted and loved and chosen \u2014 and\u00a0 we are.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
This is the first installment of the \u201cChosen\u201d series. The second will appear in the next edition of<\/i> <\/i>The Bison, on stands, Jan. 26.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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