HONG KONG (SE): The Diocesan Pastoral Commission for Marriage and the Family recently set up two Facebook groups to allow families with adopted and foster children share their experiences.
Connie Chan Lai-sheung, pastoral officer of the commission, said they were set up in view of Father’s Day, with the intention of promoting the unconditional love of adoptive and foster-parents.
She said the groups are meant to allow adopters and foster parents to offer mutual faith support. She believes these families should have support as they are good examples of God’s unconditional love. She hopes that group members can encourage more people to become adoptive or foster parents.
One adoptive father, Siu Yan-ming, who was interviewed by Chan in a forum at the Hong Kong Book Fair in 2018, particularly impressed her. He said he gladly supported his wife’s decision to adopt a child having seen her suffer from miscarriage twice.
“We felt a need to take care of a child in our family, while there are many children in Hong Kong who need parental care. So why not adopt one?” Siu said in the forum.
For Siu, “The love between a husband and a wife in a family is not built on blood ties, neither is the love for children. What is most important is how to keep a relationship.” In 2014, the couple adopted a two-month-old son, who is now six-years-old.
His wife, Chan Wing, a member of the Facebook group, said adoptive parents need to support each other. She worries that even with the love given by adopters, children may feel unhappy about the absence of their natural parents as they grow up. She believes adoptive parents need to accept this and journey with the children in whatever situation.
“Many children need a permanent home so I think adopting children is one of the missions of Catholic parents,” she said.
Peter Ho Man-hong, assistant executive secretary of the commission said adopters must become spiritual parents. “Opening the door of their homes for children in need is a response to the calling of Jesus, who said, ‘Let the little children come to me’.” (Matthew 19:14),” he said.
