An Orphan’s Plea

“I’ll take anyone. Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.” — Davion Only, a 15-year-old Florida boy in the foster care system asking for someone to adopt him and give him a family

October 2013

Davion Only has been in and out of foster homes his whole life, but has always wanted a family. “I just want people to love me for who I am and to grab me and keep me in their house and love me no matter what,” he says.

He learned that his birth mother was in prison when she gave birth to him, and she recently died.  He told his caseworker that he wanted to make a plea at a church for someone to adopt him.

So recently he found himself in front of the congregation at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Fla. ”My name is Davion and I’ve been in foster care since I was born,” he said.  “I know God hasn’t given up on me. So I’m not giving up either.”

The response to Davion’s pleas has been overwhelming.  His story went viral on Twitter, and was picked up newspapers, magazines, and television shows around the world.  He appeared on The View.  Thousands have inquired about adopting him.

When I read this story, I thought, Maybe this is what it takes.  Maybe we need to allow foster kids who want to speak, like Davion, to do so in our churches.  Maybe their faces and voices will inspire the Christian community to finally step up and begin to address the needs of more than 100,000 children in our foster care system who need a family and could be adopted.

If this could begin to happen in thousands of churches in America every Sunday …

This November is Adoption Awareness Month.  Why not ask if there are foster care children in your community who can be adopted and inquire if there is a child who would be willing to take the risk of sharing his need for a family? Then take the foster child to your church, give him or her a microphone and let him ask, “Would someone adopt me and give me a family?”  And of course, if the child she doesn’t feel comfortable making such a plea, ask if you could be the voice for that child.

Does our God believe in adoption?  He does and it’s a good thing … it’s why He sent His Son to die on our behalf, so that we might be forgiven from the penalty of our sins, and to adopt us if we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

God believes in adoption and so should we.

By the way, Barbara and I adopted one of our six children—and we don’t know which one.