The Gospel-Centered Ministry of Adoption and Foster Care

How Nightlight Christian Adoptions Challenges the Church to Embrace Its Calling

For Daniel Nehrbass and his team at Nightlight Christian Adoptions, adoption and foster care are unequivocally gospel imperatives. “Not every agency is motivated by the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. We see adoption and foster care as answers to both,” he said.

During the 1950s, approximately 8 percent of all pregnancies resulted in adoption. A group of churches in Whittier, California, who were members of the National Association of Evangelicals, recognized the need for more Christian adoptive families. As a result, in 1959 these churches came together to create Nightlight Christian Adoptions in a concerted effort to identify and match Christian families to children needing adoption. Since that time, Nightlight has expanded their services to include international adoptions, foster care placements and embryo adoptions. Nehrbass has served as Nightlight’s president for the past 11 years.

Nehrbass notes that there has been a decline in domestic adoptions over the past several decades. However, contrary to what one might assume, abortion is not the only reason why domestic adoption has declined. One of the greatest culprits is the stigma against birth moms placing their babies for adoption.

According to a new study by the National Council for Adoption, the percentage of birth mothers who have experienced some degree of stigma by the time they placed their babies for adoption has risen from 70 percent to more than 90 percent over the past 50 years. Nehrbass suggests that partly as a result of this stigma, the decline in domestic adoptions has been matched by an increase in the number of foster care placements as many of these children are born into at-risk family situations who are unable to adequately provide for them.