Founded Lifetime Adoption Center, LLC in 1986, an organization that has helped in over 1,800 successful adoptions
One of the first adoption professionals on the Internet
Featured on Larry King Live, Today Show, CNN, CBS News, NBC News
Married with two children
Guests
Mardie Caldwell: Is Adoption Right For You?
By
The 700 Club
Appearance Date: November 11, 2010
CBN.com
– Ever since she was young, being a mother seemed to come naturally to Mardie Caldwell. As an adult, she met and married with Bill, who also wanted to have children. Sadly they endured seven miscarriages before they decided to adopt. One day she told the Lord she wanted to go to the mission field. The Lord told her there was a mission field right here, ministering to women and families in the area of adoption.
In 1986, Mardie began Lifetime Adoption Center (LAC). It became one of the largest adoption centers in the country. LAC is open 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, is on call for the families, and provides personalized adoption programs for each person that contacts the center.
LAC has no international program, because they have had plenty of work domestically. In this country, there is a lack of orphanages. It is better for children to be adopted by loving families instead of going through the foster care system.
Mardie says that God’s hand is at work in every single adoption whether it works out or not. LAC provides counseling, services, Bibles, hospital packs and is in need of more of those resources. For Christmas LAC is distributing 1,000 gifts and 1,500 Christmas cards. It is important to LAC to share the Gospel with birthmothers.
Three in five families are touched by adoption. Many birth mothers feel like it is the right choice for them and their babies and more and more are requesting that their children be placed in Christian homes. There is currently a high demand for a variety of adoptive families and more options for birth parents and adoptive parents.
Families can choose from three types of adoption: closed, semi-open, and open. In closed adoptions, the adoption professional chooses what child gets placed with what family. After the adoption, neither party has any contact with the other. For semi-opened adoptions, only the birth mother’s first name is shared with the adoptive parents. The birth mother may have some say in the choice of adoptive parents. After the adoption, there is little to no contact with the adoptive parents and the child. Finally, with the open adoption, birth mothers can choose the parents for their children, receive counseling, and meet the adoptive parents.
Here are a couple of myths about adoption that Mardie would like to dispel:
Myth: There are no healthy infants available for adoption in the U.S.
The Truth: There are tens of thousands of families each year that adopt healthy, newborn babies through adoption. Many of them are through open adoption, where the biological mother, often called the birth mother, may have chosen the family herself. Domestic adoption is a very viable option for families who need help building their families.
Myth: It takes years to complete an adoption.
The Truth: A recent poll in Adoptive Families Magazine revealed that most families are able to complete their adoption in about a year. Families should expect to be working on their adoption for one to two years.
Myth: Single people can’t adopt.
The Truth: Many singles are building a family through adoption. Choices may be a bit restricted, especially with international adoption’s rules established by each individual country. Singles need to be sure they find an adoption professional that has experience and success with cases such as theirs.
Myth: Birth mothers are typically teens.
The Truth: Birthmothers are actually usually in their twenties, already parenting other children. They are typically single and struggling. They are choosing adoption thoughtfully and because they want a better life for their child. They often will want to play an active role in their adoption plan.
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