Article

Praying for Your Child’s Birth Mother and Father

Kenisha is a Lifeline birthmother who came to the Lifeline Maternity Village in the summer before her senior year of high school. As a pregnant teen, she chose an adoption plan for her child and, with the help of Lifeline, placed a precious baby boy for adoption. She offers her testimony as a source of encouragement and support to both adoptive parents and birth mothers. The following prayer topics are excerpted and minorly adapted from Kenisha’s testimony that she has shared with adoptive parents at our Lifeline Domestic Adoption Conferences. They give prospective adoptive parents insight into how to pray currently for the woman and man who created a child with whom you will share a son or daughter.

1. Pray that God places her (and the birth father) in the right place at the right time. God often plants seeds in our hearts when we don’t even realize it. By praying your child’s birth parents are in the right place at the right time could mean that those seeds are being planted even before she faces an unplanned or complicated pregnancy.

2. Pray for her well-being and safety. Unfortunately, our world is not the safest place, and many women and girls are placed in harm’s way. Pray for God’s protection over her life.

3. Pray that she knows of God’s unconditional love. Feeling unloved, lonely, and facing an unplanned pregnancy can send birth mothers to a very low place. God’s love can reach her there; pray that He will place people in her path so that she can hear of and know His love.

4. Pray for the birth parents’ salvation. Salvation gives us a promise of a better tomorrow in Him. Pray that He will draw her and him to Himself, deepening their relationship in Him through salvation and discipleship.

5. Pray that she follows God’s will. Following God’s will is difficult, especially when He leads birth parents to place their children with strangers.

6. Pray that she finds Peace. “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. 2 Thess. 3:16”

7. Pray God sends her a strong support system. The decision to place is a lifetime decision and having a support system that helps your birth mother through birthdays, Mother’s Days, and other holidays will be necessary.

8. Pray for her pregnancy and delivery. So many things can happen during pregnancy and delivery that can affect the child, the birth mother, and even the adoptive parents in the future.

9. Pray that she makes the right decision and is supported. The decision of adoption is not an easy decision, so pray that if this is God’s will for her and the child– she will make the right decision and that the birth father, her family, and community support her.

10. Pray that she (and the birth father, if applicable) chooses the right parents for her and her child. There is an exact match of birth mother, child, and adoptive parents that God has ordained. Pray that your child’s birth mother and father choose you according to God’s will. Pray also that you are tender to her needs as well.

11. Pray that both birth parents continue to grow and achieve their goals. Pray that they continue to grow closer to God and pursue their dreams with God’s help. Especially in an open adoption, they may have a relationship with your child and you want them to be able to be the best influence possible.

12. Pray for her future family. Telling future family members about a past adoption is scary and difficult. Pray that God leads the right people into her life into the future

Kenisha is happily married to her strongest supporter, Steven. She works as a School Counselor and spends her spare time with their young son, Dylan, and their dogs. God continues to bless her life, and her prayer is that she continues to use her story to bless others.