Meet Finley and Meagan Smith. Meagan lives in Birmingham with her husband, Josh, and daughter, Finley. They brought Finley home from India in 2017. We sat down with Meagan to ask her some questions about her adoption experience.

Brazil can be an amazing program for families who welcome stability in the process and who are being led to be a forever family for children from various racial and ethnic diversities. Brazil may also be a perfect program for families interested in older children and sibling groups!

Because of the impact that early life has on food and eating, children from trauma often have feeding challenges. We talked with Melissa Pouncey, a speech therapist, who specializes in children from hard places and has worked closely with Lifeline in training caregivers through (un)adopted® trips. She has given us a basic understanding of feeding issues and when therapy is needed.

Eating is an essential part of development, as our physical bodies need physical nutrition. But, food means more than just nutrition. Because of the impact that early life has on food and eating, children from trauma often have feeding challenges. We talked with Melissa Pouncey, a speech therapist, who specializes in children from hard places and has worked closely with Lifeline in training caregivers through (un)adopted® trips.

If we are fathers, the most important lesson we teach our kids is about a heavenly Father who will consistently pursue them with love, firmness, grace, holiness, compassion, mercy, and consistency.

Our adoption story is one being filled little by little, step by step, as God was quietly preparing us for a beautiful plan. And of all things, He used Facebook to put the final piece into place.

Today we had an appointment at the US embassy to receive Gabby’s visa. We had to hop around to different office windows gathering different documents. Each window gave us a slip with her given name at birth since her name has not legally been changed to Gabby yet. The slips all read: SINDHU UNKNOWN. Sindhu Unknown.

Gardendale First Baptist Church has long supported their local foster care community. It began when leadership noticed the need for stable homes for children in transition. Quickly, their church implemented support for foster care families on multiple levels.

So much of Beth and Randall’s story could be a very real reality for many of you in the same way that it has hit close to home for me. I know over the past several years we have been asked so many times "How do you let them go?” Another popular statement is, "I just don't think I could do it, I would get too attached." The realities of foster care are hard ones, but I am confident that this investment is so worth it.

At Lifeline, we believe that God created families and designed them to be permanent. When families are separated by necessity, children need temporary families to make sure they are safe and loved. Foster Care was established as a way to help families get back on their feet when permanency is disrupted. The goal is for their family to be whole again.

While Eden Westside was organizing Families Count classes, Chris and Treana’s world was being shaken to its core. Plagued with active drug addiction and a marriage that was crumbling, their children were removed from their home until Chris and Treana could show that they were a safe place for their children again.

  Our plans don’t always turn out like we expected, but the process gives us a front-seat view to the gracious sovereignty of God. Andrea Saul entered the adoption process with Lifeline with the intent to pursue an adoption through the Peru program. As circumstances evolved, Andrea saw God work in the tiniest of details

  Many people often hear the term “occupational therapy” and picture someone who has suffered a major accident re-learning how to eat or write. However, occupational therapy extends well beyond that limited view, and understanding the important role it can play in children’s lives is essential to knowing tools that are available to help children

The beauty and richness of Christ’s death on the cross is powerful fuel for our lives as Christ followers. He died the death that we deserved to die, and paid the price we could not pay. Christ, as the ultimate sacrifice for His people, gave up His spirit to death as the Son of God.

On a warm November day in India, we waited outside in the open air and beaming sun with high emotions and mounting anticipation. The hopes and prayers that had previously only existed in our hearts inched closer in the flesh with every step that the lady took. And then she was there, right in front of us, reaching out to me, and then curled up into a ball in my arms.

The question of how we respond in this crisis is one of worldview. We must recognize that God’s agenda to protect and provide for vulnerable children is much greater than ourselves, and God’s purpose is even greater than our methods for helping to accomplish it (even adoption).

In the aftermath of a tragedy like the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, we have questions and want to see these types of things stopped. Governor Rick Scott of Florida went as far as to promise, to “do everything he can to make sure this never happens again.” So what can we do; what should we do; and what is our response to situations like this from a Christian worldview?

These discussions of trauma and attachment can, at times, leave a parent feeling paralyzed in how to respond to misbehavior for fear they will cause further damage and trauma...As we provide discipline, (training that corrects, molds, and encourages moral character) rather than punishment (which can be punitive and create fear in a child), we help that child find the secure foundation they need.

One of the great aspects of our Defender podcast is the ability for you to hear directly from our staff about updates or changes going on in their areas of ministry. If you are a family who is interested in international adoption, we have gathered five podcasts that will give you information and allow you to hear from several of our program directors.

Stacie and Daniel Jackson have adopted twice from China. Both of their two daughters were 8 years old when they came home with their forever family. Both girls had lived a journey of significant medical needs, but the support they received from their new family led the Jacksons to experience God’s miraculous work in multiple ways.