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Parents see adoption as chance to help others at home, abroad
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Americans have not forgotten about adoption. It appears that many are still seeing it as a calling to help those at home and those overseas. More people are adopting domestically rather than internationally in recent years. - photo by istockphoto.com/spfoto

Ashley and Nick Nabors are a family of two. But in a matter of time, they'll be a family of four.

The Nabors are expecting their first child, a boy, Dec. 8 and plan to adopt another child, a girl, from outside the country — something they feel they’ve been called by God to do.

According to a blog post from the Nabors, their 11 months in Durban, South Africa with Campus Crusade for Christ International left them impressed with the children there and has inspired them to adopt a daughter from the country.

“We definitely realize that international adoption is very expensive,” the Nabors wrote in a blog post, “but we believe that it is completely worth it and that our God is able to provide in ways we cannot imagine through the giving of our friends and family.”

The Nabors are just one of more than 23,000 couples who adopt internationally every year,according to statistics from the U.S. State Department cited by a CNN article.

But, according to CNN, the amount of international adoptions by Americans overall are in decline. In 2004, more than 45,000 couples adopted children from overseas — showing a near 50 percent decline in international adoption, CNN reported.

Experts told CNN, though, this is related to countries like Russia and China increasing their regulations against United States families who choose to adopt kids from their countries. Overall, Americans haven’t forgotten about adoption.

According to Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children, Americans now want to adopt more children who are in dire living conditions domestically. Many homeless kids have sheltered themselves in buildings at Arizona State. And in the crown jewel of American cities — New York City — the number of homeless children has increased 63 percent. This is why there's been such a shift to adopt kids domestically.

Take Zaundia Klingbeil and her husband, who, like the Nabors, already have a child and want to adopt another. Zaundia wanted to sell her wedding ring so she could afford to adopt a baby,according to WPTZ, a local news affiliate in Fargo, North Dakota. But her community rallied behind her when one woman called Zaundia and asked her to adopt her child.

"We just felt like it was something God really put in our laps, and really how can you say no?” she said.

Email: hscribner@deseretdigital.com
Twitter: @herbscribner