Tinder uses it for choosing a date. So why not for choosing a child? Why not have an app that permitted you to scan the cherubic faces of adorable babies, swiping right if you are interested in adopting the child and swiping left if you want to move on?
Because, frankly, it’s reprehensible.
Thankfully, Christians may not be the only ones who think so. In late January Kickstarter suspended the fundraising account of the “Adoptly” app. According to a Fox News report, Kickstarter didn’t say why they applied the suspension, but we can hope it was in response to the inherently controversial notion of using an app that lets you select a child purely based on whether the baby looks attractive enough to you.
In fact, the internet buzzed with speculation that the app was actually intended to be a parody, or even a hoax. After all, who would really choose a child this way?
And it is not only the idea of accepting a child based on appearance that makes the app repugnant. It’s the act of rejecting children, too. Dr. Harvey Karp, a pediatrician and author, explained to Fox News, “Looking at photos and videos is commonplace, but picking children by swiping photos is an emotionally difficult experience for someone wanting to adopt. It means actively rejecting child after child.”
Adoptly co-founder Alex Nawrocki defended the app. “We are not dictating which options are made available,” he said. “Adoptly acts like an aggregator of agency and network databases already in existence, pulling in legally pre-approved profiles, making the adoption process much simpler.”
So, to be clear, dumping the kids into a database so it will be more convenient for prospective parents to choose which child is worthy of their precious love makes it okay?
The whole point of adoption is a mother or father stepping up and saying, “Someone else didn’t want you, but we do!” “Someone else couldn’t care for you, but we will!” The main reason the “Adoptly” app disgraces the idea of adoption is that it rejects the fundamental notion that an adoptive parent is affirming the worthiness of a child for no other reason than the child is a person and needs love. And needs a parent. The adoptive parent says, You are worthy, you are loved, you are mine. And not because of how you look. But because I said so.
That’s grace.
A Christian should grasp this more than most. The Bible declares that adoption is one of God’s favorite ways to demonstrate what He has done for us in Christ. When we trust Christ, God adopts us into His family, and we receive all the privileges and rights that go with it. And He does not select us based on our appearance, but the heart that cries out in faith becomes His child (Matt. 18:5, Eph. 1:5, Gal. 4:5-7).
Any who trust Christ can hear the Father say, You are worthy, you are loved, and you are mine. Not because of what you have done, but because of what Christ has done. Not because you are good enough, but because I said so.
And certainly not because of how you look. That’s grace.