When Siblings Are Separated

When I visited one of the orphanages we serve at last week, I saw a little girl that looked eerily familiar playing and running around with her orphanage siblings. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I knew I had seen her before.

It turns out that she is a twin and I have met her sister at another orphanage we serve at in town. Come to find out there are three sisters in total but they have been separated. Two in one orphanage and one at another. It is not uncommon for siblings in the orphanage system to be separated here in Mexico. In this case it is because the one sister has physical disabilities and had to go to a special needs facility.

This breaks my heart because mentally, she is completely normal yet is unable to be with her siblings simply because her legs don’t work.

What a travesty.

It breaks my heart for these girls, but it brings it home even more when I think about what would happen to my own kids if they had been born here, we lacked support and something happened to us?

My children would be separated immediately simply based on developmental and physical capabilities. They rely on each other so very much. Especially as we are navigating this culture we have been transplanted into. I cannot imagine how it would be for them to lose each other.

These three girls must have such daily heartbreak. I will say that the director of the orphanage with the two “normal” siblings makes a good effort to take the girls to see their sister. I am grateful for that and I am sure the girls are too.

Think about these beautiful girls and all the other precious children that are separated from their siblings today. I don’t pretend to judge the Mexican government and their policies on child welfare. There is much that is complicated in the world and problems this complicated don’t usually have simple answers.

And by the way, pray for us as we walk along with the Lord with a desire to care for children. We are asking ourselves daily if Jose is just the beginning. Does the Lord want us to be a place of refuge for more children in need? We do feel like our arms, home and hearts are not nearly full to capacity, yet what would the Lord want for us?

The day I met M’s sisters, I asked them if they would like to make a card for their sister. They did, and I had the privilege of delivering it the next day. It felt like a trite and trivial thing when I wanted to do so much more, But she was so happy, and I’m glad for that.